- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN exports saw a good beginning in August by garnering $7.4 billion in the first seven days of the month. Tentative data released by India’s commerce ministry showed that while exports grew 50.5 per cent in the same period, imports shot up 70 per cent to $10.5 billion, leading to a trade deficit of $3.1 billion during the week.
In July, the country’s shipments hit a record $35.2 billion, but with imports at $46.4 billion, the trade deficit stood at $11.23 billion.
It was reported that non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery imports went up 53.3 per cent, signalling a pick-up in the domestic economic activities, exports in those went up 36.3 percent in the first seven days of August.
The sectors that witnessed highest exports growth include petroleum products (145.3%), engineering goods (63.2%) and gems and jewellery (121%). Iron ore, oil meals and oil seeds saw the highest fall in exports during the same period.
The US contributed the most to the rise in Indian exports ($462.7 million) during the first week of August, followed by the UAE ($209.7 million) and Saudi Arabia ($163.8 million). The UAE made the biggest contribution to the rise in Indian imports ($595 million), followed by China ($485.7 million) and Nigeria ($408.2 million) in the same period.
The Narendra Modi government has set a merchandise exports target of $400 billion for FY22 and $1 trillion in the next five years. With services exports targeted at $500 billion, India could emerge as a leading player in world trade in the next five years with a combined export figure of $1.5 trillion.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund projected world trade to grow at 9.7 per cent in 2021 after a contraction of 8.3 per cent last year.
“The merchandise trade recovery is set to broaden after being initially concentrated in pandemic-related purchases, consumer durables, and medical equipment. Services trade is expected to recover more slowly, consistent with subdued cross-border travel until the virus transmission declines to low levels,” it said.
