How India's monsoon shaped this year's food inflation
A patchy June and a heavy August moved vegetable prices more than any policy decision did. We trace the rain, mandi by mandi.
Meera Kulkarni
External Sector
Merchandise Trade Balance
-$21.4bn
-$1.6bnfrom -$19.8bn
As of 30 June 2026Monthly
The goods deficit widened again in June
Merchandise trade balance, $ billion, monthly (negative = deficit)
Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry; illustrative seriesShare or embed this chart
What this measures
The merchandise trade balance is the gap between what India exports and imports in goods each month. India runs a structural goods deficit, financed partly by a services surplus and remittances, so the size of the gap — not just its existence — is what matters.
Source & release schedule
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Released monthly, in the second week of the following month.
Related stories on India in Data
A decade of Nifty 50 returns, in one chart
Ten years, three crashes, one pandemic — and an index that still compounded near 12% a year. The long view on Indian equities.
Arjun Nair
India's manufacturing output, sector by sector
Electronics and pharmaceuticals are pulling away from the pack, while textiles tread water. A visual audit of the index of industrial production.
Sana Qureshi
What GDP does and doesn't tell us about India
GDP is the most quoted and least understood number in Indian public life. A field guide to what it measures, what it misses, and how to read it.
Dev Patel