India’s exports dropped 28.4 per cent in July — 2 per cent higher than the earlier estimate — to $13.6 billion from $19 billion in the same month last year, dipping for the tenth straight month due to the continuing slowdown in major global markets.
Cumulatively, exports fell 34.1 per cent in dollar terms to $49.65 billion in the four months ended July, compared with $75.2 billion during the same period last fiscal.
Simultaneously, imports too fell by over 37 per cent to $19.6 billion in July, for the seventh successive month, largely due to an over 55 per cent slump in the crude oil import bill, bringing down the country’s trade deficit by over 50 per cent to $5.99 billion in July this year from $12.15 billion in the same month last year.
Oil imports in July declined to $5.63 billion, falling by 55.5 per cent over the same month last year. In the first four months of 2009-10, the oil import bill slumped nearly 48 per cent at $21.9 billion, down from $42.2 billion in the year-ago period.
Non-oil imports, too, including capital goods and raw materials, decreased by nearly 24.5 per cent at $13.9 billion this July, compared with $18.5 billion in the same month last year.
Exports slid 28 per cent in June after they had plunged 29 per cent in May.
