India’s trade gap has narrowed to $7.7 billion in September, against $15.3 billion in the same month in 2008, as its imports fell by a drastic 31.3 per cent in the same month, according to official data released today.
Imports for September fell to $21.3 billion due to falling crude oil prices to $76 per barrel from a peak of $147 per barrel last year.
India’s exports remained downhill for the twelfth month in a row, declining by 13.8 per cent to $13.6 billion in September, but the damage to exports inflicted by the recession in big markets seems to be bottoming out.
For the April-August period of the current financial year, the overseas shipments dropped by 28.5 per cent to $77.9 billion from $108.9 billion in the same period last year.
However, the fall in September shrank by about 6 per cent, compared to 19.4 per cent in August. The exports for 2008-09 now stand revised to $185 billion.
Exports started declining in October last year, a month after the global economic situation worsened following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.