Feb. 1 India’s exports rose in December for a second straight month after a yearlong decline as demand picked up in the U.S. and Asia for the nation’s cars and jewelry.
Overseas shipments rose 9.3 percent to $14.6 billion in December after gaining 18.2 percent in the previous month from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement in New Delhi today. Exports are rebounding after an average 17.4 percent drop in the past year.
“The export trend going forward will remain positive,” said D. H. Pai Panandiker, president of RPG Foundation, an economic policy group in New Delhi. “It’s a reflection of recovery in the advanced economies.”
The U.S., India’s biggest overseas market, expanded 5.7 percent last quarter, the fastest pace in six years. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the country’s biggest carmaker, reported a four-fold surge in exports in January from a year earlier.
A revival in exports may aid India’s industrial recovery and bolster growth in Asia’s third-biggest economy, which expanded 7.9 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30.
India’s central bank last week raised its growth estimate to 7.5 percent in the year to March 31 from 6 percent, citing strengthening local and export demand. To check inflation, the bank raised the proportion of deposits lenders need to set aside as cash reserves to 5.75 percent from 5 percent. It left the benchmark reverse repurchase rate unchanged at 3.25 percent.
Exports are also growing as India enters into free-trade agreements with other countries. Last year, the South Asian nation signed a free-trade accord with South Korea and the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Source : Bloomberg.com