DETERMINANTS OF EXPORT PERFORMANCE AND COMPETITIVENESS OF INDIAN BUSINESSES IN GLOBAL MARKETS Author Export performance; Export competitiveness; India; Manufacturing; Foreign direct investment; Innovation; Trade logistics This paper examines how productive capacity, investment, foreign direct investment (FDI), digital access, and innovation relate to India’s export performance and competitiveness. Because no comparable firm panel was available, this national secondary-data analysis does not interpret macro aggregates as firm-level observations. World Bank WDI provides export, manufacturing, investment, FDI and internet series for 1991–2024. Competitiveness is measured as India’s share of world merchandise exports. R&D, high-tech exports and logistics are descriptive only because their coverage is shorter or intermittent. India’s merchandise exports rose from US$17.7 billion in 1991 to US$442.9 billion in 2024, while its world share increased from 0.50% to 1.80%. Current-dollar export CAGR was 10.2%, compared with 6.0% globally. India’s share peaked at 1.81% in 2022 and was 1.80% in 2024. High-technology goods rose from 9.6% of manufactured exports in 2009 to 18.6% in 2024, while manufacturing value added fell from 17.1% of GDP in 2008 to 13.1% in 2024. A first-difference OLS model (n=32; 1993–2024) explains 9.0% of annual export-share variation; changes in manufacturing, investment, FDI and internet use are individually nonsignificant using HC3 standard errors. This aggregate null does not imply capability irrelevance: Indian firm-level studies identify innovation, productivity, imported inputs and logistics as relevant. Overall, India’s long-run export presence and technology composition improved, but short-run macro correlates are weak. Findings are descriptive, not causal, and motivate firm- and sector-panel research. This provides a useful national benchmark. International Journal of Commerce, Management and Social Sciences 2026-10-15 Text application/pdf 10.65919/ijcmss.2026.v2i4001 en