Forecasting India’s foreign trade dynamics: evaluation of alternative forecasting models in the post-pandemic period

According to an estimate by the International Monetary Fund, India’s gross domestic product was expected to reach US$3.82 trillion in the 2023/4 financial year. At the time of writing, India is the fifth-largest economy in the world, and one of the fastest growing. In 2018 India’s share in global trade (in both merchandise and services) was 2.1% for exports (US$481.74 billion out of a total of US$23 044 billion) and 2.6% for imports (US$600.62 billion out of a total of US$23 112 billion). Starting from 2016/17, exports from India grew constantly for almost three years, and total exports peaked at more than US$0.5 trillion for the first time in 2018/19. This study aims to determine whether India’s foreign trade will grow or diminish in the period following the Covid-19 pandemic (2020–23) and during the ongoing Ukraine crisis. We use various quantitative and qualitative techniques to predict the growth in foreign trade. Comparing several available forecasting models, we identify the best for forecasting the value of India’s trade in future.