Gold spike, Trump tariffs lift trade deficit to record

The two culprits are gold imports which tripled y-o-y to $14.7 bn and US tariffs which hurt demand in India's biggest export market

- Dhirendra Kumar & Rhik Kundu

India's goods trade deficit ballooned to an all-time high in October, driven by a surge in gold imports and the growing impact of punitive US tariffs.

The trade gap widened sharply to $41.68 billion last month, jumping from $32.15 billion in September and $26.2 billion a year earlier, provisional data released by the commerce ministry showed. The reading significantly exceeded expectations, coming in far wider than the $28.8 billion deficit projected by a Reuters poll.