Business
India's goods exports shrink, gold imports nearly double
New Delhi, May 15
In a worrying start to this
fiscal, India's merchandise exports declined sharply by 14 percent in
April and stood at $22.05 billion due mainly to the overall conditions
in the global market, while gold imports shot up by 85 percent.
The exports contracted from $25.63 billion during April 2014.
According
to data on exports and imports released by the ministry of commerce and
industry on Friday, the trade deficit for April this year stood at $11
billion against $10.08 billion during the like month of the previous
year.
The trade deficit, in fact, widened despite a major
42.65-percent drop in oil imports during April 2015 and was valued at
$7.44 billion against $12.98 billion in the corresponding month of the
previous year.
Non-oil imports, including gold, were estimated
at $25.60 billion, which was 12.58 percent higher than the $22.74
billion in April 2014. Imports of gold nearly doubled and were over 85
percent higher at $19.65 billion, against $10.596 billion.
The overall imports during April were down by 7.48 percent at $33.04 billion from $35.72 billion.
Commodity-wise,
high export growth was witnessed in tobacco (24.28 percent), spices
(19.60 percent), ceramic products (15.67 percent), carpets (14.17
percent), handicrafts (13.46 percent), cashew (10.71 percent), drug and
pharmaceutical (9.73 percent) and cereal preparations (8.08 percent).
Segment-wise,
high import growth was reported in fertilisers (70.70 percent),
transport equipment (69.44 percent), pulses (42.45 percent), electronic
goods (30.01 percent), artificial resins and plastic materials (19.35
percent), fruits and vegetables (17.03 percent), iron and steel (16.01
percent) and electronic and non-electronic machinery (10.11 percent).
Another
set of data independently released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
showed that services export for March was lower by 1.88 percent and
stood at $14.04 billion from $14.31 billion earned during the
corresponding month of last year.
However, services imports
during March fell by 7.42 percent and stood at $7.86 billion from $8.49
billion in the like month of 2014.