India's merchandise exports rose 26.49 per cent year-on-year to $29.88 billion in November driven by better performance of key sectors. Meanwhile, trade deficit hit a record high of $23.27 billion due to rising imports of crude oil and gold.
Exports in November
The exports stood at $23.62 billion in November 2020. Imports in November were at $53.15 billion, an increase of 57.18 per cent over the same month of 2020, according to provisional data released by the government on Wednesday.
''India's merchandise exports in April-November 2021 was $262.46 billion, an increase of 50.71 per cent over $174.15 billion in April-November 2020 and an increase of 24.29 per cent over $211.17 billion in April-November 2019,'' the commerce ministry said.
Imports in November
Imports in April-November 2021 grew by 75.39 per cent to $384.44 billion. Trade deficit stood at $121.98 billion during the eight-month period of this fiscal.
Trade deficit
As per the data, the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of $23.27 billion as gold imports grew by about 8 per cent to $4.22 billion. The gap between imports and exports totalled $10.19 billion during November 2020.
The previous record for the trade gap was $20.2 billion in October 2012. Imports of 'petroleum, crude and products' surged 132.44 per cent to $14.68 billion during the month under review.
Exports products that clocked positive growth
Export sectors that recorded positive growth during the month include petroleum products, handloom, engineering, chemicals, plastic and marine products. Outward shipments of engineering goods, which accounted for 28.19 per cent of total exports in November, jumped about 37 per cent year-on-year to $8 billion.
Exports of petroleum products soared 145.3 per cent on an annual basis to $3.82 billion. However, the outbound shipments of gems and jewellery dipped by 11 per cent to $2.4 billion during the month. Imports of 'coal, coke and briquettes' climbed 135.81 per cent in November this year to $3.58 billion.
The updated trade data will be released on December 15.
Commenting on the numbers, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said though the government has announced a slew of measures to support exports, the need of the hour is to soon announce extension of the interest equalisation scheme and allow transfer of MEIS, RoDTEP and RoSCTL.
''Some of the other major issues which requires the attention of the government are augmenting the flow of liquidity and empty containers and establishing a regulatory authority to seek justification of imposition of various charges by the shipping lines, besides freight support to all exports till 31st March 2022, as freight rates have skyrocketed and are not likely to come down in near future,'' it added.
(With inputs from PTI)
