From a peak of 82% in July, export growth has slipped to 44.25% in August, 36.36% in September and 10.8% in October, mainly due to the declining demand in the US and Europe
New Delhi: India’s exports grew by just 10.8% to $19.8 billion in October, the lowest in the last two years, mainly due to the declining demand in the US and Europe, reports PTI.
The growth rate has been the lowest since October 2009, when it contracted by 6.6%.
Imports grew at a faster rate of 21.7% to $39.5 billion leaving a trade deficit of $19.6 billion, the highest ever in any month in the last four years, which is also due to expensive crude oils and vegetable oils, according to the commerce ministry data released on Thursday.
From a peak of 82% in July, export growth has slipped to 44.25% in August, 36.36% in September and 10.8% in October.
In October, oil imports grew by 20.73% to $10 billion whereas non-oil imports rose by 22% to $29.4 billion over the year-ago period.
But, for the cumulative April-October period, exports aggregated $179.7 billion showing a handsome growth of 45.9%, thanks to sterling trend witnessed in the previous months of the current fiscal.
A steady rise of 30.9% in imports for the seven-month period to $273.4 billion has left trade gap widening to $93.7 billion.
Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar has expressed concerns over the increasing balance of trade and said that at this rate, it may breach $150 billion mark during 2011-12.
During April-October, oil imports stood at $81.9 billion, an increase of 40%. Non-oil imports rose by 27.1% to $191.5 billion.
Source : moneylife.in