New Delhi: India’s smartphone exports to the United States, its largest market, have recorded a steep 58 per cent fall between May and August 2025, raising concerns among trade experts. According to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), shipments plunged from USD 2.29 billion in May to just USD 964.8 million in August, despite the fact that smartphones attract no tariffs in the US.
“This development is alarming and counterintuitive. It demands urgent investigation to uncover the real reasons behind this fall,” GTRI said in its report. The decline has been steady, with exports dropping to USD 2 billion in June and USD 1.52 billion in July.
In FY2025, the US accounted for USD 10.6 billion worth of India’s smartphone exports 44 per cent of its global total of USD 24.1 billion followed by the EU with USD 7.1 billion. GTRI noted that tariff-free products, which made up 28.5 per cent of India’s exports in August, posted the sharpest contraction of 41.9 per cent, sliding from USD 3.37 billion in May to USD 1.96 billion in August.
Other sectors have also shown weakness. Pharmaceutical exports fell 13.3 per cent during the same period, from USD 745 million in May to USD 646.6 million in August. Jewellery exports dropped 9.1 per cent to USD 228.2 million, while seafood shipments plunged 43.8 per cent to USD 162.7 million. Textile and garment exports declined 9.3 per cent, from USD 943.7 million in May to USD 855.5 million in August, and chemical exports dipped 15.9 per cent to USD 451.9 million.
GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava warned that August’s data only partially reflects the impact of higher US tariffs, which rose from 10 per cent until August 6, to 25 per cent until August 27, and 50 per cent thereafter. “September will be the first full month to reflect these higher duties, and declines in textiles, gems and jewellery, shrimp, chemicals, and solar panels could deepen further,” he said.
Srivastava stressed that India’s exports to the US have now fallen for a third straight month a predictable outcome of steep tariffs but the sharp crash in tariff-free exports like smartphones and pharmaceuticals is particularly troubling. “This threatens to derail India’s flagship PLI success story. Policymakers and industry must urgently probe the causes and act before this slide deepens,” he cautioned.
