New Delhi, Oct 1 (Inditop.com) India’s merchandise exports fell for the 11th straight month in August, with the value of shipments falling 19.4 percent to $14.29 billion from $17.72 billion in the like month of last year.
According to an official trade data released Thursday, merchandise exports during the first five months of this fiscal were down 31 percent at $64.13 billion, compared with $92.96 billion registered duing the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Imports during August were valued at $22.66 billion, showing a drop of 32.4 percent, while the cumulative figure for the five-month period was down 33.4 percent at $102.3 billion, showed the data released by the commerce ministry.
“Although the downtrend in our exports continued in August, it is worth noting the rate of decline has come down to below 20 percent compared to 28-33 percent in each of the preceding four months,” said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
“It would be a formidable challenge even to maintain the level of exports reached last year. This would mean we have to achieve a robust growth of over 32 percent in the remaining seven months of 2009-10 to touch the $182 billion mark of in 2008-09.”
The country’s oil import bill also fell 47.4 percent during the five-month period ended Aug 31 to $28.28 billion, from $53.74 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. In August, oil imports fell 45.5 percent to $6.28 billion from $11.52 billion.
Accordingly, the country’s trade deficit during April-August was estimated at $38.17 billion, which was lower than the deficit of $60.73 billion during the like period last year.
