Declining by 1.1 per cent in December over the same month last year, India's exports showed negative growth for the third month running, but the sharp fall since October was arrested despite worsening global trade.
Declining by 1.1 per cent in December over the same month last year, India's exports showed negative growth for the third month running, but the sharp fall since October was arrested despite worsening global trade.
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Exports dropped to $12.6 billion in December this fiscal, from $12.8 billion a year ago. Against slowing demand for Indian goods in the global markets, exports shrunk by 12.1 per cent in October, showing a negative trend for the first time in five years.
A sharp correction in the crude oil prices led to the country's imports growing by a modest 8.8 per cent to $20.2 billion in December.
With a reduction of 30.9 per cent in oil imports, the trade gap narrowed to about $7.56 billion in December as compared to $10 billion in November.
However, the year-on-year deficit showed an increase from $5.78 billion in December 2007. Owing to good performance in the first half of the fiscal, cumulative exports for the April-December period managed to show a healthy expansion of 17.1 per cent to $131.9 billion.
Growth for the first half of the fiscal was 30.9 per cent. As imports grew at a faster rate earlier in the year, the nine-month expansion to $225.80 billion remained at 31.5 per cent.
The trade deficit for the period widened to $93.81 billion from $58.98 billion a year ago.
Slowdown in demand for Indian goods in overseas markets has led to job losses, which may go up to one million, government estimates show.
Experts are keeping their fingers crossed despite signs of recovery. "Things should be better by April-May," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel said.
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