By IANS,
New Delhi : Fiscal 2008-09 began on a positive note for India’s merchandise exports, growing 31.5 percent in April to $14.4 billion, against $10.95 billion for April 2007, latest trade data showed Monday.
Imports, on the other hand, were valued at $24.27 billion, to register a growth of 36.6 percent over $17.77 billion during April 2007, as per data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics.
One of the main reasons for the surge in the import bill was oil imports surging 46.2 percent to $8.03 billion from $5.49 billion. Non-oil imports were up 32.3 percent at $16.25 billion from $12.28 billion.
The trade deficit for April was estimated at $9.87 billion – higher than the deficit of $6.82 billion in the same month of 2007.
India has fixed an export target of $200 billion for the current fiscal. It had missed the target of $160 billion last fiscal by around $5 billion.