India’s trade surplus with Turkey is seen as pretty important, especially since most of the trade exports from India to Turkey are high-value industrial goods like engineering products, electronics, and a mix of organic and inorganic chemicals. These trade exports have been steadily growing over the past five years, showing a solid trend.
Even though there’s been some talk of limiting Turkish companies’ involvement in India’s critical infrastructure due to national security concerns, the Government doesn’t seem too keen on taking that strict approach to trade. Industry groups have been pushing for bans on items like Turkish apples and marble, but the overall vibe is to not mess with the trade setup too much.
India Prioritizes Export Gains, Avoids Trade Restrictions with Turkey
Several groups, especially Himachal apple-growers feeling the heat from Turkish apple competition, have requested the Government to block imports from Turkey, a Government official shared. But since India actually makes money from this trade (with a $2.73 billion surplus), cutting it off might backfire. It would send a strong political signal, sure, but the question is whether it’s really worth the risk to Indian exporters.
India’s trade surplus with Turkey is important because most of India’s exports to Turkey are industrial goods like engineering products, electronics, and various chemicals, which have grown steadily over the last five years. On the other hand, Turkey mainly exports items like fruits, nuts, gold, and marble to India. Turkey had also increased its imports of petroleum products from India after the Ukraine war, but those imports dropped noticeably in the fiscal year 2025.
Marble processors in Udaipur recently appealed to the PMO to restrict marble imports from Turkey, blaming Turkey’s backing of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, even though most of India’s marble comes from there.