India’s total merchandise trade with the U.K. has grown steadily over the years, touching $19.3 billion in 2024-25 up to January 2025. However, import growth has outpaced that of exports by a significant margin.

Notably, trade in both directions is highly concentrated in just a few sectors, data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows.

An analysis by The Hindu shows that just five product categories — electrical machinery (15.3%), nuclear reactors, boilers & machinery (11.6%), mineral fuels and oils (9.1%), pearls, precious & semi-precious stones (7%), and pharma products (5.4%) — together make up nearly half of what India exports to the U.K. The largest category in this, machinery and engineering goods, is likely to see strong growth following implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.K. announced on Tuesday, according to industry participants.

“With the FTA in place, engineering exports to the U.K. are projected to nearly double over the next five years, reaching around $7.55 billion by 2029-30,” said Pankaj Chadha, chairman of the Engineering Exports Promotion Council of India. “The U.K. is currently India’s sixth largest engineering export destination.” The import situation is even more concentrated. The top five product categories — pearls, precious & semi-precious stones (30.5%), nuclear reactors, boilers & machinery (17.4%), electrical machinery (7.2%), iron and steel (5%), and aluminium and its articles (4.5%) — together make up 65% of India’s imports from the U.K. India’s total trade with the U.K. stood at $12.2 billion in 2016-17, the earliest year for which the ministry provides data. Of this, India’s exports stood at $8.5 billion and imports were $3.7 billion.

This has grown significantly over the years. Total trade, at $19.3 billion in 2024-25 up to January 2025, is nearly 60% higher than its level in 2016-17. Exports have grown 41% to $12 billion.

However, over this period, imports grew nearly 100% to $7.3 billion.

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