New Delhi: India’s exports remained in the negative zone for the second consecutive month in September contracting by 6.57 per cent to USD 26 billion mainly on account of significant dip in shipments of petroleum, engineering, gems and jewellery and leather products.
Imports too declined by 13.85 per cent to USD 36.89 billion in September, narrowing the trade deficit to a seven-month low of USD 10.86 billion, according to the government data released Tuesday. The trade deficit stood at USD 14.95 billion in September 2018.
Gold imports plunged 62.49 per cent to USD 1.36 billion in the month. Imports during the month slipped the most after August 2016, when inbound shipments had contracted by 14 per cent.
Out of the 30 key sectors, 22 segments showed negative growth in exports during the month under review.
Shipment of gems and jewellery, engineering goods and petroleum products decreased by 5.56 per cent, 6.2 per cent and 18.6 per cent respectively.
The country’s outbound shipments have remained subdued so far this year. It may have a bearing on the overall economic growth, which fell to over six-year low of five per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
In September, oil imports declined by 18.33 per cent to USD 8.98 billion, and non-oil imports fell by 12.3 per cent to USD 27.91 billion.
Cumulatively, during April-September 2019, exports were down 2.39 per cent to USD 159.57 billion while imports contracted by seven per cent to USD 243.28 billion. Trade deficit during the period narrowed to USD 83.7 billion as against USD 98.15 billion in April-September 2018-19.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president Sharad Kumar Saraf said declining trend in exports does not augur well for the overall growth of the economy.
“Domestic issues including access to and cost of credit still remain a problem area for MSMEs and especially for merchant exporters, interest equalization support to all agri exports should be quickly and seriously looked into,” said Saraf.
Trade Promotion Council of India chairman Mohit Singla said that there is a definite sign of manufacturing slowing down owing to the sluggish market demand, which has taken a hit at export.
“Falling agri commodity exports are a matter of concern for major stakeholders. Knowing the fact of price competitiveness and sluggish demand there still remains other archaic challenges related to respective products,” pointed out Singla.
PTI
