India's imports which went up at a scorching pace of over 38 per cent in the first half of 2008-09 are set to slow down in the remaining part of the fiscal with cooling crude oil prices and slackening demand for industrial products.
"We expect value of imports will be decelerating on account of global import compression and lack of demand for capital goods and fast erosion of import-led exports in areas like gems and jewellery," President of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) S K Jain said here today.
Jain said recession in the US has badly hit the export of import-led sectors like gems and jewellery. He said there would be a considerable shift in consumption in the US, where consumers would spend less on jewellery while managing to protect his budget on food and medicine.
The US is India's top most country-wise destination for exports, though the European Union is the largest trading partner.
Thanks to slackening domestic demand and a sharp correction in crude oil prices, the import growth in dollar terms has started receding to just about 10 per cent in October after expanding by over 38 per cent for the April-September period.