New Delhi Aug 14 (PTI) India’s exports contracted by 15.88 per cent, the sixth month in a row, to USD 32.25 billion in July this year due to a global slowdown and fall in shipments of key sectors like petroleum, gems and jewellery, according to official data released on Monday.
Imports during the month also declined by 17 per cent, the eighth month in a row, to USD 52.92 billion from USD 63.77 billion in July 2022. This led to a narrowing of the trade deficit to USD 20.67 billion against USD 25.43 billion in July 2022.
However, the deficit (difference between imports and exports) widened in July against June, when it was USD 20.13 billion.
Cumulatively, the merchandise exports during April-July this fiscal dipped by 14.5 per cent to USD 136.22 billion. Imports during the period declined by 13.79 per cent to USD 213.2 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 76.98 billion compared to USD 87.99 billion during April-July 2022.
Briefing media about the data, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthawal said the global headwinds are still there.
There is a decline in exports and imports from several countries, including key Indian destinations like the US and Europe. In both these regions, imports are declining continuously.
However, he expressed hope that India’s exports of goods and services during 2023-24 would be higher than that of the previous fiscal year of USD 776 billion.
“We are hopeful and sure that our exports will be higher than last year’s exports, both goods as well as services,” he said, adding India’s trade performance, after witnessing “very high” growth in 2022-23 has continued to show declining trends in July compared to the high base of last year in the backdrop of a global slowdown. Sectors, which are doing good, include electronics, and that means “India is integrating into global value chains and moving up in value chains”, the secretary said.
On the import front, gold imports increased by 47.73 per cent to USD 3.5 billion in July.
Oil imports during the period declined by 23.4 per cent to USD 55 billion against 71.74 billion a year ago. The imports in July contracted by 36.65 per cent to USD 11.75 billion.
In July, only 11 of the 30 key export sectors exhibited positive growth, including iron ore, oil meals, oil seeds, electronic goods, coffee, rice, and pharmaceuticals.
Exports of electronic goods increased by 13.09 per cent during July at USD 2.05 billion. During April-July, these exports rose by 37.6 per cent to USD 9.01 billion.
The secretary informed that smartphone exports during April-June jumped to USD 3.7 billion from USD 1.6 billion in the same period last year.
Further services exports in July are estimated at USD 27.17 billion compared to USD 24.26 billion in July 2022. Imports stood at USD 14.85 billion against USD 14.06 billion in July 2022.
The estimated value of services exported in April-July 2023 was USD 107.93 billion compared to USD 100.35 billion in April-July 2022.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that sluggish global demand with growth contraction and softening of commodity prices has led to a continuous decline in exports.
Icra Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said: “Based on the available trends, we expect the current account deficit to widen to USD 11-13 billion in Q1 of this fiscal and further to USD 15-17 billion in Q2, with the monthly trade deficit likely to remain above the USD 20 billion mark in the next couple of months”. PTI RR CS RR BAL BAL
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.