Exports weak, again

Hopes of a revival prove to be short-lived

The official data on India’s balance of trade for April has been released, and it makes for disquieting reading. While exports may have grown in April as they did in March, February and January, growth was barely there. At 0.64 per cent, it was the lowest year-on-year growth in exports seen so far this calendar year. While the numbers themselves may not be disquieting, the worry is that what appeared to be a modest revival in exports does not appear to be sustainable. Meanwhile, imports of gold shot up by as much as 54 per cent year-on-year, and oil by