India recorded the highest monthly exports during the fiscal in February, registering an 11.9 per cent growth to USD 41.4 billion, mainly driven by increased shipments of engineering goods, electronic items and pharma products.
Rising trade deficit
The trade deficit during February worked out to USD 18.7 billion, up from USD 16.57 billion in the year-ago month, as gold imports surged significantly.
Merchandise imports surge
Merchandise imports were valued at USD 60.11 billion, up 12.16 per cent compared to USD 53.58 per cent in February 2023.
Increase in gold imports
Gold imports rose 133.82 per cent to USD 6.15 billion during February from USD 2.63 billion in the year-ago period, according to the commerce ministry data. During April-February, the gold imports stood at USD 44 billion, an increase of 38.76 per cent over the compared period during the last financial year.
Talking to reporters, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that despite several difficulties, like the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and recession in certain countries, the February exports surpassed all expectations.
"If you look at the 11 months period of the financial year this is the highest export growth which we have achieved, both merchandise as well as overall. This is very heartening," he said.
The second heartening aspect, he added, is that India's overall exports are likely to be higher this financial year than last year's record exports.
"We will be crossing the record which we achieved last year and last to last year," the secretary said.
The main drivers of merchandise export growth in February include engineering goods, electronic goods, organic and inorganic chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and petroleum products.
Engineering Goods exports in February recorded an increase of 15.9 per cent at USD 9.94 billion over USD 8.58 billion in February 2023. Electronic goods shipments were up by 54.81 per cent at USD 3 billion over USD 1.94 billion in February 2023.
Exports of organic and inorganic chemicals increased by 33.04 per cent to USD 2.95 billion in February.
Exports of drugs and pharmaceutical products increased 22.24 per cent annually, while petroleum products exports registered a growth of 5.08 per cent at USD 8.24 billion.
India's overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in April-February 2023-24 are estimated to be USD 709.81 billion, a growth of 0.83 per cent over April-February 2022-23.
Improvement in overall trade deficit
Overall imports in April-February 2023-24 are estimated to be USD 782.05 billion, exhibiting a contraction of 4.64 per cent over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
"Overall trade deficit improves by 37.8 per cent from USD 116.13 billion in April-February 2022-23 to USD 72.24 billion in April-February 2023-24. Merchandise trade deficit improves by 8.43 per cent from USD 245.94 billion in April-February 2022-23 to USD 225.20 billion in April-February 2023-24," the commerce ministry said in a statement.
Estimations for February 2024
India's overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in February 2024 are estimated to be USD 73.55 billion, exhibiting a growth of 14.2 per cent over February 2023.
Overall imports in February 2024 are estimated to be USD 75.50 billion, a growth of 10.13 per cent over February 2023.
