Exports Declined 8.74 Percent In November

Exports declined 8.74 percent in November, the trade deficit narrowed to $ 9.87 billion.

The country’s exports have declined for the second consecutive month. Exports declined 8.74 percent to $ 23.52 billion in November.

Total exports have been lower mainly due to declining exports of petroleum, engineering, chemicals, and key sectors like gems and jewelery. According to official figures released on Tuesday, imports have fallen for the ninth consecutive month.

Imports declined 13.32 percent to $ 33.39 billion in the month under review. This reduced the trade deficit to $ 9.87 billion.

It was $ 12.75 billion in November 2019 a year ago, however, the trade deficit (the difference between imports and exports) has increased against October’s $ 8.78 billion.

The country’s exports stood at $ 25.77 billion in November 2019.

During the eight-month period of April-November in the current financial year, exports declined by 17.76 percent to $ 173.66 billion, while imports declined by 33.55 percent to $ 215.69 billion.

This resulted in a trade deficit of $ 42 billion in the first eight months of the current financial year 2020-21 compared to $ 113.42 billion in the same period a year ago.

According to the data, oil imports declined by 43.36 percent to $ 6.27 billion in November. Imports during the first eight months of the current financial year decreased by 48.7 percent to $ 44.11 billion.

Among the sectors that recorded a decline in exports in November, petroleum products (-59.73 percent), leather (-29.8 percent), cashew (-24.53 percent), plastics, and linoleum (-23.26 percent),.

Marine products (-16 Percentages), oilseeds (-15.2 percent), man-made yarn / cloth / made up (-11 percent), engineering goods (-8.12 percent), chemicals (-8 percent) coffee (-1.27 percent) and stitched fabrics ( -1.19 percent).

However, exports of oil mills, iron ore, rice, ceramic products, and handicrafts registered good growth. According to the data, gold imports grew nearly 3 percent to $ 3 billion.

Talking about the figures, Mohit Singla, the founder chairman of the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), said that overall exports have come down mainly due to the fall in exports of petroleum products.