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NEW DELHI: India’s exports have registered a growth of 81.8 per cent during July 2011, at $ 29.3 billion, thanks to a sterling performance from sectors like engineering, petrochemical products and gems and jewellery.
Briefing newspersons here on Thursday, Rahul Khullar, Commerce Secretary, said that during April-July 2011, countyr’s overseas shipments have reached $108.3 billion, a growth of 54 per cent while the imports were $151 billion with a growth of 40 per cent. The trade deficit was $42.7 billion for the same period.
However, this high growth rate is unlikely to be sustained in the coming months due to uncertainty in the US and European economies, Khullar cautioned. “Exports have done well. But my sense is that the high export growth is not going to sustain. It is simply not sustainable. We should see growth rates slipping by August-September,” he said.
The sectors that have done well in terms of exports are engineering whose exports touched $31.6 billion, gems and jewellery whose exports touched $12.8 billion, petroleum and oil products, exports for which touched $18.6 billion, man-made yarn and made-ups, exports for which touched $ 1.73 billion, electronics, whose exports were to the tune of $ 3.72 billion, readymade garments, whose exports touched $5 billion.
Though most of the sectors posted robust expansion in export volumes, Khullar warned the exporting community from getting carried away by these high numbers and, instead, brace themselves for the uncertain economic conditions in the US and Europe that are likely to hit global demand. Together, these countries account for about 35 per cent of the country’s exports.
India’s imports in July 2011 have also jumped, registering $40.4 billion and a growth of 51.5 per cent. It has also left a trade deficit of $11.1 billion.
Ramu S Deora, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisation agreed that such growth in exports in the background of numerous challenges is unheard of in recent history of Indian exports.
“A comparison of the export figure of the last four months of the current year with the same period last year shows that we are doing $26-27 billion exports every month, driven by a focus on exports by manufacturing sector and higher value addition,” observed Deora.
Source : expressbuzz.com
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