Niti Aayog VC pitch for export diversification to beat external headwinds | Today’s news
Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Ashok Lahiri on Wednesday called for further diversification of India’s exports, saying it was key to maintaining a strong growth rate in outbound shipments and mitigating the impact of external headwinds.
“We should not suffer from any export cynicism,” he said, opening a June report by government think tank Trade Watch.
Analysis of data in the report suggests the country’s diversification drive is showing early signs of success, with two African countries – Tanzania and South Africa – breaking into the top ten destinations for Indian products in the quarter, replacing Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia amid the West Asia war.
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UPI charges
Separately, on the sidelines of the launch of the report, Lahiri told news agency ANI that businesses have to bear some of the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transaction costs. He called it his personal opinion and not that of Niti Aayog.
He said the government cannot subsidize everything and everyone and at some point the user pays principle has to come into play. There are costs involved in running a digital payment system, he said, asking who would bear them.
He also emphasized the need to diversify energy sources, citing this as a lesson learned from the war in West Asia.
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Import of critical minerals
The quarterly trade report showed that New Delhi’s dependence on critical mineral imports is deepening as domestic demand grows. For example, its copper imports more than triple to $11.8 billion in 2025, while the country remains fully dependent on nickel and cobalt imports.
India’s total merchandise exports rose 16% to $129.5 billion in the quarter from a year earlier, while imports rose 19.8% to $216.1 billion, resulting in a merchandise trade deficit of $86.6 billion.
Services exports “remained resilient”, rising 9.6% year-on-year to $106.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026-2027, leading to a net services trade surplus of $52.22 billion.
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Business diversification
“Export markets showed greater diversification, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and East Africa recording the strongest growth of 61.3% and 89.0%, respectively, driven by higher shipments of petroleum products, electrical machinery, engineering goods and agricultural products,” the report said.
Meanwhile, imports from Latin America and West Africa jumped 137.4% and 91.3%, respectively, thanks mainly to higher purchases of oil, minerals and other primary commodities. This also suggests greater diversification of Indian imports.
India’s exports of digitally delivered services to reach $317 billion in 2025, up 15% year-on-year, lifting India from the fifth largest exporter to the fourth largest exporter in 2025, overtaking Germany. Business services and computer services remained the dominant components of India’s exports of digitally delivered services.
Scope in the metal trade
The report showed that India has great opportunities to tap metal exports. The global import market for metals and ores was worth $2 trillion, but India’s exports of these products accounted for only 1.8% of global demand in 2025. This includes a 2.1% stake in metals and 0.5% in ores.
“Iron and steel and iron and steel products alone account for 50.9% of global demand for metals, but India accounts for only 2.5% of this market,” the report said.
