India’s merchandise exports grew by 24.2 per cent to a monthly record of $38.2 billion in April, boosted by growth in outward shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, chemicals and electronic goods, as per data released by the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday. Imports, however, saw an even faster growth at 26.6 per cent to reach $58.3 billion, taking the monthly trade deficit to $20.1 billion up from $15.3 billion in the year-ago period.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, in a tweet, described the export performance as a “spectacular start” to the new financial year. “We are building on historic high of 2021-22 & confidently achieving new milestones on the back of trade deals inked recently,” he tweeted. India surpassed its merchandise export target of $400 billion in FY22 and has recently signed trade deals with the UAE and Australia. India is also working on trade deals with the UK, Canada and the EU.
Engineering goods exports saw a growth of 15.4 per cent to $9.2 billion, while petroleum product exports jumped 113.2 per cent to $7.7 billion. Inorganic and organic chemical exports rose by 26.7 per cent to $2.6 billion and electronics goods exports 64.0 per cent to $1.6 billion. Gems and jewellery exports saw a decline of 2.1 per cent to $3.3 billion.
Fuel imports were key components in import growth as coal imports jumped 136.4 per cent to $4.7 billion while crude oil imports rose by 81.2 per cent to $19.5 billion due to elevated prices for both commodities. Electronics goods imports rose 28.7 per cent to $6.5 billion, while inorganic and organic chemical imports rose 46.9 per cent to $3.3 billion. Gold imports saw a sharp decline of 73 per cent to $1.7 billion.
Aditi Nayar, chief economist at credit rating agency Icra, said the increase in the trade deficit in the month was “entirely on account of oil”, noting that while the non-oil trade deficit remained stable, its composition had changed as the fall in gold imports had been offset by coal and chemical imports due to higher commodity prices resulting from the Russia Ukraine conflict.
“… unless commodity prices recede appreciably, we expect the merchandise trade deficit to print above US$20 billion in a majority of the months of FY23,” she said.
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