New Delhi : India’s exports remained in the negative territory for the 11th month in a row by registering a dip of 17.53 % in October to $ 21.35 billion due to a demand slowdown, while trade deficit showed an improvement.
Exports contracted due to steep decline in shipments of petroleum products (57 %), iron ore (85.5 %), engineering (11.65 %) and gems and jewelery (12.84 %) amid a global demand slump. The imports too shrank an annual 21.15 % to $ 31.12 billion in October, narrowing the trade gap to $ 9.76 billion, lowest figure since February. The trade gap was $ 6.85 billion in February. Gold imports showed a sharp decline of 59.5 % at $ 1.70 billion.
The cumulative exports during April-October this fiscal came down by 17.62 % to $154.29 billion, according to data released by the Commerce Ministry.
The trade deficit during the first seven months of the current fiscal has shrunk to $ 77.76 billion as against $ 86.26 billion last fiscal. According to exporters body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), going by this trend it would be difficult to reach $ 300 billion in 2015-16.
Oil and non-oil imports in October slid 45.31% and 9.93% to $6.84 billion and $24.2 billion, respectively.
Commenting on the exports figure, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said a 17.62 per cent dip in exports in April-October period is really a matter of concern. “The current fiscal is proving to be one of the worst years for exporters who are facing a huge demand slowdown. Many of the SME exporters in the engineering sector are finding it difficult to survive given the kind of squeeze in the global trade,” it said.
