India's exports fell 9 per cent to $23.43 billion in November due to a drop in shipments of segments such as petroleum products, engineering and chemicals, even as the trade deficit narrowed to$9.96 billion during the month, according to official data released on Wednesday.
Imports also slipped 13.33 per cent to$33.39 billion in the month under review.
In November, oil imports dipped 43.34 per cent to $ 6.27 billion. It was down by 48.7 per cent to $44.10 billion during April-November 2020, the data showed, PTI report said.
Exports during April-November 2020 were $173.49 billion, compared with $211.17 billion during the corresponding period a year ago, exhibiting a negative growth of 17.84 per cent.
Merchandise imports during the eight month period of 2020-21 declined by 33.56 per cent to $215.67 billion.
"India was thus a net importer in November 2020, with a trade deficit of $9.96 billion, as compared to a trade deficit of $12.75 billion," it said.
Non-oil imports in November were estimated at $27.12 billion, showing a decline of 1.22 per cent over the same month last year. During April-November, it was down by 28 per cent to $171.57 billion.
Major commodities of export that have recorded negative growth during November are petroleum products (61.05 per cent), leather (29.80 per cent), cashew (24.90 per cent), plastic and linoleum (23.34per cent) and marine products (16.11 per cent).
Engineering goods (8.27per cent), organic and inorganic chemicals (8.09per cent), coffee (1.27per cent), and RMG of all textiles (1.20 per cent) are the other commodities that saw negative growth.
Products that recorded positive growth during November include oil meals (70.54 per cent), iron ore (68.15 per cent), rice (24.41 per cent), carpet (15.58 per cent), spices (12.12per cent) and pharmaceuticals (11.13 per cent).
Tobacco (8.64 per cent), fruits and vegetables (5.33 per cent), Tea (5.02 per cent), and gems and jewellery (4.11 per cent) are the other commodities that saw positive growth.
Industry reaction
Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center
The record growth of 26.5 percent in our November exports proves that Indian exporters have maintained their resilience despite challenges such as rising input cost, increasing ocean freight cost, container shortage etc. Particularly, it’s heartening to know that labour intensive sectors such as cotton yarn, handloom, made-up textile have grown 40% during this month.
To provide further fillip to exports, we suggest the government to restore Interest Equalisation Scheme, which expired in September 2021, introduce online module in the banking system for export credit (to streamline credit disbursal procedure), reduce transaction charges such as e-BRC charges, incurred by exporters while accessing shipment credit and address remittance issues plaguing e-commerce exporters. Currently, there are restrictions on remittances against e-commerce exports through agents such as Western Union.
