India: Plastics trade deficit more than doubles to INR 1.18 lakh crore since FY’19

India’s trade deficit in plastics and articles thereof (HS Chapter 39) widened from INR 50,512 crore in FY19 to INR 1,17,903 crore in FY25. The gap held steady at around INR 47,000-52,000 crore until FY21, then imports jumped to INR 1.49 lakh crore in FY22 and INR 1.86 lakh crore in FY23, and have stayed near that level since.

Exports, meanwhile, rose only from INR 56,079 crore to INR 69,000 crore over the same period. In FY19, India’s plastics exports paid for 53% of its plastics imports; by FY25 they covered just 37%.

The deficit is no longer about resin

Net imports of commodity polymers, PE, PP, PVC and PS, were INR 32,275 crore in FY25, only 27% of the HS 39 deficit, down from 42% in FY19. The rest, covering engineering resins, films, sheets and finished plastic articles, has nearly tripled from INR 29,248 crore to INR 85,628 crore. Value-added plastics, not commodity resin, now drive India’s plastics trade gap.

For West India, that is both a warning and an opportunity. Gujarat accounts for over 40% of India’s plastics sector, with processing hubs in Rajkot, Halol and Vapi, and Maharashtra hosts a large converter base. Every tonne of imported film, sheet or moulded article is demand local converters could win with the right grades, machinery and costs. New domestic feedstock is arriving too: HPCL’s Rajasthan complex, dedicated in July 2026, adds 1 mnt of PP and 1 mnt/year of PE close to the region’s converters.

At PLAST.CONNECT 2026 – Ahmedabad, PolyMint will bring together converters, compounders, machinery makers, brand owners and policymakers to discuss manufacturing competitiveness, value addition, and what it will take to replace imported plastics with products made in India.

The inaugural keynotes on “India’s Plastics Industry: Growth, Sustainability & Circularity” will examine the future of the plastics value chain, manufacturing competitiveness and Make in India. Technical sessions on Performance Materials and Smart Plastics Manufacturing will look at engineering plastics, compounds, automation and Industry 4.0, the capabilities converters need to compete with imported articles.

Join us on 22 October in Ahmedabad and be part of the conversation shaping India’s plastics value chain.