New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) In a worrying start for 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 the data on exports and imports released by the Minister 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 and were 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.