India's engineering goods exports to the US registered a 4.6 per cent increase to $1.74 billion in May this year, compared to the same month of the previous year, despite the uncertainty created by the tariff hikes announced by President Donald Trump.

Similarly, the exports of engineering goods to European countries such as Germany, the UK and the Netherlands also showed positive growth in May this year.

Commenting on May trade data, Pankaj Chadha, Chairman, EEPC India, said: "While India’s engineering exports to the US and EU grew, a significant decline was noted in UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, which are major markets for India and feature prominently in India’s top 25 destinations.

"The decline can be explained by the growing geopolitical tensions in the area and the rising threat to logistics. Export of aluminium and its products was also hit due to increased competition."

The decline in shipments to the Middle East resulted in a marginal fall of 0.82 per cent in overall engineering goods exports to $9.89 billion in May 2025.

However, the share of engineering goods in India’s total merchandise exports increased to 25.53 per cent during this period, which reflects an expansion of the country’s manufacturing base and the increasing weight of high-value goods in the export basket.

On a cumulative basis, India’s engineering exports recorded 4.77 per cent growth to $19.40 billion during the April-May period of 2025-26 from $18.52 billion during the same period of the previous financial year.

Engineering goods exports had surged by 11.28 per cent to $9.51 billion during April this year from $8.55 billion in the same month of the previous year.

In May 2025, as many as 26 out of 34 engineering panels witnessed positive year-on-year growth, while 8 engineering panels, including mainly non-ferrous metals like aluminium, zinc, lead, tin, machine tools, aircraft and spacecrafts, ship and boats, witnessed a decline in exports.

Region-wise, North America maintained its spot as the number one export destination with a share of 21.3 per cent followed by the EU (17.7 per cent) and WANA (West Asia & North Africa) (14.3 per cent) in April-May 2025.