Trade Deficit Narrows to $9.12 bn in Sept.

India’s trade deficit dropped to $9.12 billion — a six-month low — in September, allaying fears of a wide gap in the balance of trade. In August, imports outpaced exports at an alarming rate, pushing the trade deficit to a 23-month high of $13.06 billion.

Commerce minister Anand Sharma said India traditionally had a high trade deficit and so, it was not a cause for concern yet. “India is a big importer of many commodities. Hence, the trade deficit is on the higher side,” he said. During September, overall merchandise exports rose 23.2 per cent to $18.02 billion while imports jumped 26.1 per cent to $27.14 billion.

Cumulatively, in the April-September period, total merchandise exports stood at $103.3 billion – an increase of 27.6 per cent and imports grew 30 per cent at $166.5 billion. The total gap in trade stood at $63.2 billion.

Last month, commerce secretary Rahul Khullar had revised the trade deficit forecast to $135 billion for the current fiscal from the earlier forecast of $120 billion. Releasing the trade data, Khullar said India was on course to meeting the target of $200 billion in exports by the end of the fiscal year. He added that the high imports were primarily on account of higher oil prices which pushed up the import value.

Source : indianexpress.com