From India’s drugmakers bracing for steep US tariffs under Donald Trump’s latest plan, to a revamped core sector index reshaping recent growth trends, India strengthening its lead in Mint’s Emerging Markets Tracker, rural households experiencing their weakest income momentum since September 2024, and domestic air passenger traffic slipping back into contraction after a brief rebound — here are this week’s news in numbers.
Tariff tremors
US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff plan has brought concerns over India’s pharmaceutical exports. From 1 August, generic will continue entering the US duty-free for two years, after which they will face a 100% tariff for a year before the levy doubles to 200%.
Generic had escaped the sweeping US tariff hikes announced in 2025, which targeted branded and patented medicines, but that exemption has now ended. While Indian remain heavily exposed to the US market, that dependence has eased in recent years. Several major companies now derive a smaller share of their revenue from the US than they did two years ago — reflecting pricing pressure in the generic market and efforts to diversify.
Baseline reset
India’s core sector output grew 5% in June 2026, its fastest pace in five months, marking the launch of a revamped Index of core Industries with 2022-23 as the new base year. The revised index expands the basket from eight to nine sectors by adding iron ore, and also updates the methodology for compiling coal and steel output.
Iron ore, which carries a 4.9% weight, was a key driver after production grew 43.9% from a year earlier. Despite the stronger overall growth, four of the nine core industries contracted through the first quarter of 2026-27. The revision also sharply rewrites recent growth trends, lowering average FY25 estimates while raising FY26 figures.
India leads
India retained the top spot in Mint’s Emerging Markets Tracker in June with a score of 82.2, comfortably ahead of China (70.2) and Vietnam (69.8). The improvement reflected a broad-based recovery across financial markets and macroeconomic indicators. The rupee posted its sharpest month-on-month gain in over a year, while domestic equities advanced for a third consecutive month. GDP growth remained resilient, manufacturing activity stayed in expansion, exports continued to grow and foreign exchange reserves remained comfortable. The turnaround coincided with improved global risk appetite, renewed foreign portfolio inflows, softer crude oil prices and the RBI’s FCNR(B) deposit scheme, which helped ease pressure on the rupee and strengthened India’s external position.
Numbers talk
$17.41 billion: The amount non-resident Indians (NRIs) have poured into Indian banks through foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) deposits to attract dollars and support the rupee, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
$49.8 billion: India’s crude oil import bill in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026-27, according to government data. This was up 60% from a year earlier, as the war in West Asia ended discounts that had cushioned the country’s energy costs.
10%: The share in global goods exports India is aiming to achieve by 2047 from 1.8% in 2024, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
40.7 million tonnes: The coal stock at India’s thermal power plants as of 20 July, enough for about 13 days of operations, according to National Power Portal data. This was down from May levels amid rising electricity demand and monsoon-related supply disruptions.
1,331: The number of commercial pilot licenses issued by India in the first six months of 2026, with 41% of newly licensed pilots trained abroad.
Income squeeze
Rural households are witnessing their weakest income momentum since the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) began tracking rural economic conditions in September 2024, signalling emerging financial stress. According to the latest Rural Economic Conditions and Sentiments Survey, only 27.7% of households reported an increase in income over the previous year, the lowest share since the survey’s inception and down steadily from the peak of 42.2% in November 2025.
The slowdown is spilling over into spending, with the proportion reporting higher consumption easing to 74.1%. At the same time, gains in financial savings, borrowing and capital investment have weakened, while reliance on informal credit has risen, highlighting growing strain in rural finances.
Recovery stalls
India’s domestic aviation sector hit turbulence again in June 2026. Domestic air passenger traffic was 13.5 million, down from 13.6 million in the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The decline reversed a brief recovery in May, when passenger traffic grew 9.5% year-on-year, largely due to a favourable base after disruption-hit travel curbs and weaker demand in select parts of the country following Operation Sindoor and heightened India-Pakistan tensions last year. With the latest figure, domestic aviation has returned to contraction after a brief respite, suggesting the recovery in May was not a sustained improvement in air passenger traffic demand.