India’s trade deficit stood at $20b in July

India's merchandise trade deficit in July stood at $20.67 billion, according to a Reuters calculation based on export and import data released by the government on Monday.

Economists expected a July trade deficit of $21 billion, according to a Reuters poll.

Merchandise exports stood at $32.25 billion, while imports were $52.92 billion in July, the government data showed. The previous month, merchandise exports were $32.97 billion, while imports stood at $53.10 billion.

Russia emerged as the second-biggest goods seller to India in April-July, with exports doubling to $20.45 billion during the period from $10.42 billion during the same period last year, data showed.

India has been gorging on Russian oil since the West imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, helping it climb from the position of 18th biggest supplier of goods to India before the war.

China remained the biggest supplier of goods to India even with imports falling to $32.70 billion from $34.55 billion.

Services exports in July were $27.17 billion, while imports were $14.85 billion. In June, services exports were $27.12 billion and imports were $15.88 billion.

For the April-July period, services and merchandise exports fell about 6 percent year-on-year to $244.15 billion, while imports fell 11 percent to $272.41 billion.