By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s merchandise exports fell for the fourth consecutive month in January and were valued at $12.381 billion, down 15.9 percent from the $14.717 billion registered in the like month of last fiscal.
Cumulatively, the exports registered a mere 13.2 percent growth in the first 10 months of this fiscal at $144.266 billion against $127.454 billion in the like period of the previous year, official data showed Monday.
The commerce ministry has attributed the export decline to the general slowdown in the global economy and has already admitted that the target of $200 billion for this fiscal will remain unmet, with exports logging no more than $170 billion.
The data, released by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, also showed that imports during January, too, declined and were valued at $18.455 billion, down 18.2 percent from $22.566 billion in the like month of last fiscal.
Cumulative, the value of imports during April-January 2008-09, was $243.358 billion, up 25.3 percent over $194.285 billion logged during the corresponding 10-month period of last fiscal.
This resulted in the trade deficit for the 10-month period under review to shoot up to $444.61 billion from $269.352 billion for the like period of 2007-08.
The data also showed that while oil imports during April-January 2008-09 were up 32.4 percent at $83.29 billion, the non-oil imports rose by 21.9 percent to $160.068 billion.