January exports rise 25% Y-o-Y on back of strong global orders.

Owing to strong global orders, India's merchandise exports rose by 25.3 percent in January this year as compared to January 2021. Impressively, exports also rose by nearly 33.2 percent as compared to January 2020, when the pandemic had struck and global trade had begun to be hit.

Data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on February 15 showed outbound trade stood at $34.5 billion in January. On a month-by-month basis, it was lower than the $37.8 billion in December 2021.

Cumulatively, exports have grown by 46.7 percent in the April-January period of FY22 (2021-22) as compared to the same period of FY21. Total exports in the current financial year so far stand at $335.8 billion, a record high. The government had set a $400 billion target for the current financial year.

Also, compared to FY20, exports have gone up by 27.1 percent, the ministry said. This indicates that outbound shipments are currently comfortably above pre-pandemic levels. Exports have maintained a fast pace of growth over the past few months, despite the growth rate swinging wildly. This is due to continuing effects of high volatility on global trade, as well as the varibale levels of exports in the previous financial year.

On an annual basis, export growth had been 38.9 percent in December, 56.5 percent in November, 43 percent in October, 21.3 percent in September.

Imports also rising

In January, imports saw an equally large rise, going up by 23.5 percent to $51.9 billion. This has been a continuing trend from the past few months whereby import growth had remained significantly high. Experts and policymakers say this bodes well for the economy, signifying the return of industrial and consumer demand. However, others worry that it would prove too difficult to rein in the runaway imports.

In the April-January period of FY22, cumulative imports stood at $495 billion. Moneycontrol has reported how with an average $50 billion worth of imports every month, India's import figures are also set to cross the 2018-19 record ($514 billion) by the end of the current financial year.

Imports have risen by a wide margin every month, albeit with the growth rate climbing down speedily. It had risen by percent 38.5 percent in December, 56.5 percent in November, 63.5 percent in October and 84.7 percent in September.