Asia, Africa expand share of India market while Europe, America fall

India's aggressive trade pivot has restructured its global footprint, pushing non-traditional markets outside of Europe and NAFTA to command over 55% of all shipments.

Written by FE Bureau

Updated: July 20, 2026 05:11 IST

The South-South Shift: How India’s Strategic Export Diversification Broke the NAFTA-Europe Duopoly

The export diversification strategy has resulted in countries outside Europe and members of the North America Free Trade Association (NAFTA) accounting for more than 55% of total shipments in April-May.

In April-May of 2025 the share of Europe and NAFTA countries that include US, Canada and Mexico was touching 46% and in the same period of this financial year their contribution has come down to 41.0%. The drop in share for the US is 3% and for Europe 2%.

The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Africa together added $ 7.6 billion to exports in April-May compared to previous year, accounting for a significant share of overall export expansion, an analysis by the Department of Commerce showed.

While exports to NAFTA countries grew 2.6% and to Europe 4% during the period under review, shipments to Asean grew an impressive 66.9%, Growth in the African market was 53.1%, North East Asia 30.7% and South Asia 40.2%. Exports to Latin American countries grew 12.5% and to Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) 29%.

The share of Asean in India’s exports increased to 11.84% in April-May from 8.24% in the same period of last year. Africa’s share increased to 12.28% from 9.77%.

The growth in Asian and African markets continued in June too. In April-June, exports to Tanzania have grown 146% to 2.9 billion, to Singapore 101% to $ 6.5 billion, Sri Lanka 124% to $ 2.34 billion, Australia 25% to 2.6 billion. Growth in China in the first quarter was 27.54% to $ 5.6 billion, South Africa 76% to $ 3.1 billion, Kenya 60% to $ 1.6 billion, Oman 26% to $ 1.3 billion, Indonesia 30% to $ 1.3 billion and Japan 22% to $ 1.7 billion.

On the other hand, exports to the biggest market, the US, in the first three months of this financial year have declined 0.1% to $ 25.4 billion while to the biggest market inEurope, Netherlands exports have contracted 18.2% to $ 4.5 billion.

The government had intensified export diversification last year after the onset of tariff war emanating from the US and other uncertainties like increasing technical and other non-tariff barriers.

It added 30 more countries to the list of 20 that were to be given focussed attention in export promotion initiatives. Earlier with 20 focus countries, the coverage was of 50% total exports and the addition of 30 more took it to 90%. Under the Export Promotion Mission (EPM) , diversification is also getting a big support.

This article was first uploaded on July nineteen, twenty twenty-six, at forty-four minutes past eleven in the night.