New Delhi, May 6 (Inditop.com) India’s merchandise exports grew a healthy 50 percent in March to $19.9 billion, but for the fiscal year as a whole the value of shipments was down 4.7 percent due to the global economic crisis, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said Thursday.
“The fall 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.
Exports during April-March 2009-10 were valued at $176.5 billion, while imports during the same period were $78.7 billion, a fall of 8.2 percent from the previous fiscal’s $303.7 billion.
As a result, the trade deficit declined to $102 billion, from $118 billion in the year-ago period.
For March, exports grew over 50 percent to $19.9 billion compared to the same month of last fiscal.
Mercantile export targets for the current fiscal have been set at $200 billion, the minister said, adding that India wants to double exports by 2014 from the current levels.
