New Delhi: India’s engineering exports have come down marginally by 0.82 percent to $9.89 billion in May 2025. However, in the April-May period, it recorded a surge of over 4 percent to $19.40 billion from the previous fiscal year. The reason for the shortfall is attributed to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and West Asia region, said the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) report.
Exports of “aircraft, spacecraft, and parts” went down 85 per cent, whereas the exports of “ships, boats, and floating structures” declined 25 per cent in the corresponding month from the previous fiscal year.
India-US Engineering Trade
However, a positive trend or outcome is witnessed in the overall exports to the US. In May 2025, India’s engineering exports to the US recorded a surge of 4.6 percent year-on-year to $1.75 billion, whereas in the April-May period, it stood at $3.39 billion, recording a surge of over 10 percent from the previous corresponding fiscal year time period, as per the data obtained from EEPC.
US President Donald Trump, in March, imposed an additional tariff of 25 percent on the exports of steel and aluminum. In April-May 2025, iron and steel exports went up by 170 percent to $158 million, whereas products of iron and steel saw a growth of 10 percent to $520 million. The exports of industrial machinery to the US surged as high as 17 percent to around $770 million in April-May.
Currently, the Indian exports to the US are facing only 10 percent tariffs due to the 90-day tariff pause of reciprocal tariffs announced by President Trump on 4th April 2025. Currently, of the total $20 billion of Indian engineering exports, $12.5 billion of engineering exports to the US are facing reciprocal tariffs. Post the July 9, 2025 deadline, 26 percent of tariffs will be applicable to all the exports.
For now, the sector has braced itself against the impact of tariffs. However, the impact of geopolitical tensions in West Asia could be seen as exports to that particular geography have witnessed a significant drop. For example, engineering exports to the UAE fell by around 16 percent to $683.38 million, whereas for Saudi Arabia, the exports went down by a whopping 42.6 percent to $337 million. Exports to Turkey have suffered the biggest setback, as the figure stands down by 61.5 percent to $176.2 million.
Geographically, North America stands tall at the number one spot for the top destination of Indian engineering exports with a share of around 21 percent. Following the table, the European Union (EU) stands at number two with a share of around 18 percent of the overall trade segment. West Asia and North Africa account for around 15 percent of the total engineering exports