India has proven its resilience as a trading nation in recent times

Recently, India released its trade statistics for the month of February. We have data for the first 11 months of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The combined value of our exports of goods and services is a little over $700 billion. Based on current trends, the number will cross $750 billion or three-quarters of a trillion for the entire financial year. The value of goods and service imports was $817.5 billion for the same period. The combined value of exports and imports of goods and services for FY23 will likely exceed $1.6 trillion. With the likely size of India’s nominal GDP at the end of FY23 around $3.4 trillion, India’s overall trade-to-GDP Ratio (TGR) is likely to be around 47%. Does this suggest that India has become more open in FY23 than in the recent past? The answer is ‘no’ because India did not become less open in recent years, as several commentators claim.