Trade deficit narrows to seven month low of US$ 8.98 billion in September 2017
India's merchandise exports jumped at six-month high pace of 25.7% to US$ 28.61 billion in September 2017 over a year ago. Meanwhile, merchandise imports increased 18.1% to US$ 37.60 billion. The trade deficit declined 1.0% to seven-month low of US$ 8.98 billion in September 2017 from US$ 9.07 billion in September 2016.Oil imports moved up 18.5% to US$ 8.19 billion, while the non-oil imports also surged 18.0% to US$ 29.41 billion in September 2017 over September 2016. The share of oil imports in total imports was 21.8% in September 2017, compared with 21.7% in September 2016. India's basket of crude oil galloped 22.6% to US$ 54.52 per barrel in September 2017 over September 2016.
Among the non-oil imports, the major contributors to the overall rise in imports were electronic goods imports rising 40.9% to US$ 5.17 billion, pearls, precious & semi-precious stones 56.9% to US$ 3.13 billion, coal, coke & briquettes, etc. 48.0% to US$ 1.64 billion, machinery, electrical & non-electrical 16.4% to US$ 2.85 billion, iron & steel 35.0% to US$ 1.30 billion, non-ferrous metals 32.5% to US$ 1.11 billion and organic & inorganic chemicals 20.3% to US$ 1.55 billion. The imports also improved for artificial resins, plastic materials etc by 21.9% to US$ 1.24 billion, metaliferrous ores & other minerals 41.4% to US$ 0.72 billion, silver 128.3% to US$ 0.32 billion, wood & wood products 34.0% to US$ 0.57 billion and vegetable oil 11.6% to US$ 1.16 billion.
Further, the imports have moved up for chemical material & products 26.4% to US$ 0.54 billion, and professional instrument, optical goods etc 18.8% to US$ 0.38 billion, while it declined for transport equipment 27.6% to US$ 1.31 billion, cotton raw & waste 43.7% to US$ 0.14 billion and gold 5.0% to US$ 1.71 billion in September 2017.
On exports front, the engineering goods recorded an increase in exports by 44.2% to US$ 7.33 billion, followed by petroleum products 39.7% to US$ 3.60 billion, organic & inorganic chemicals 46.1% to US$ 1.68 billion, readymade garment of all textiles 29.4% to US$ 1.66 billion, gems & jewellery 7.1% to US$ 4.78 billion, and drugs & pharmaceuticals 14.7% to US$ 1.60 billion. The exports also moved up for marine products by 32.7% to US$ 0.79 billion, rice 45.7% to US$ 0.58 billion and cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products etc 15.2% to US$ 0.92 billion in September 2017. Further, the exports gained for man-made yarn/fabrics/made-ups etc by 24.8% to US$ 0.47 billion, plastic & linoleum 17.1% to US$ 0.57 billion, electronic goods 14.3% to US$ 0.57 billion and leather & leather products 17.1% to US$ 0.48 billion in September 2017.
Merchandise exports in rupees improved 21.3% to Rs 184387 crore, while imports moved up 14.0% to Rs 242283 crore in September 2017 over September 2016. The trade deficit narrowed to Rs 57896 crore in September 2017 compared with Rs 60536 crore in September 2016.
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India's merchandise exports increased 12.0% to US$ 147.19 billion, while merchandise imports surged 25.2% to US$ 219.32 billion in April-September 2017. An increase in imports was driven by a 19.3% jump in oil imports to US$ 46.97 billion. India's merchandise trade deficit galloped to US$ 72.13 billion in April-September 2017 from US$ 43.77 billion in April-September 2016.
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