By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s merchandise exports grew a healthy 54 percent in March to $19.9 billion, but the value of the outward shipments dipped 4.7 percent to $176.5 billion for 2009-10 mainly due to the global meltdown, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said here Thursday.
The exports in March 2009 stood at $12.9 billion and in 2008-09 at $185.3 billion.
“The fall of 4.7 percent has been mainly due to the global meltdown, but still we have been able to perform well,” Sharma told reporters here, releasing the annual trade data.
The exports were in the red for 13 successive months, starting October 2008. They started turning positive in November 2009.
“The whole world has been affected by the global meltdown. There has been a big slump in traditional markets where we export. Market diversification has actually helped us recover the losses to a great extent,” Sharma added.
The imports for 2009-10 stood at $278.7 billion, a fall of 8.2 percent from the previous fiscal’s $303.7 billion.
As a result, the trade deficit declined to $102.2 billion, from $118.4 billion in the year-ago period.
On the exports front, the sectors which were in red include engineering, electronics, handicrafts, carpets and cotton yarn.
“Some sectors continue to hurt badly like engineering, electronic goods, handicrafts and carpets. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade along with commerce ministry officials will do the sectoral reviews to find out whether more steps are needed to be taken for the sectors that are getting hurt,” Sharma said.
He said the review will be completed by July.
The sectors which posted a positive growth included marine products, iron ore, tea, tobacco, fruits and vegetables and man-made fibres.
The government has set a target of $200 billion-worth merchandise exports for 2010-11, the minister said, adding that India wants to double its exports by 2014 from the current levels.