A strong show by engineering, petroleum and gems & jewellery sectors pushed up exports for the second month in October by 9.59 per cent, although the trade deficit too shot up to 10-month high of USD 10.16 billion on account of surge in gold imports.
Exports of engineering products rose by 13.86 per cent, gems and jewellery by 21.84 per cent, petroleum by 7.24 per cent and chemicals by 6.65 per cent during the month compared to the same month last year, the official data released today showed.
Exporters body FIEO said this is a very encouraging sign as most of the global economies are still reeling under pressure to perform and global demand still does not seems to pick up.
"If this kind of positive growth continues in the coming months, we are definitely on course to achieve USD 280 billion or even more in exports during this fiscal," it said.
Imports too increased by 8.11 per cent to USD 33.67 billion. It entered positive zone after nearly two-years. It grew by 26.79 per cent in November 2014.
Jump in gold imports by 108.43 per cent to USD 3.5 billion in October, pushed the trade deficit to a 10-month high of USD 10.16 billion as against USD 9.69 billion in the same month last year.
It was in December 2015 when trade deficit saw a high of USD 11.66 billion.
During the April-October period of current fiscal, exports dipped by 0.17 per cent to USD 154.91 billion. Imports too contracted by 10.85 per cent to USD 208 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 53.16 billion.
Oil imports in October grew by 3.98 per cent to USD 7.14 billion. Non-oil imports rose by 9.28 per cent to USD 26.53 billion.
From December 2014 exports had fallen for 18 straight months till May 2016 due to weak global demand and slide in oil prices. Shipments witnessed growth only in June this year thereafter again entered into negative zone in July and August.
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The trade deficit -- the difference between imports and exports -- for April-January, however, has improved to USD 86.38 billion in comparison to USD 107.74 billion recorded in the same period last fiscal.
The data revealed that iron ore exports jumped over 10 times to USD 184.43 million in January year-on-year.
Export of petroleum products increased to USD 2.69 billion from USD 2.08 billion, rise of 28.96 per cent. Shipments of engineering goods from India in January rose to USD 5.45 billion, up 11.89 per cent.
Non-petroleum exports in January were valued at USD 19.42 billion as against USD 19.11 billion year-on-year, an increase of 1.6 per cent. Non-oil imports were estimated at USD 23.81 billion.
The ministry, quoting latest WTO statistics, said the growth in exports is positive for the US (2.63%), EU (5.47%) and Japan (13.43%), but China has shown a negative growth of 1.51 per cent for November 2016.
Meanwhile, services exports during December 2016 were valued at USD 13.8 billion registering a growth of 3.49 per cent as compared to 1.72 per cent in November 2016.
Imports during December 2016 were valued at USD 8.29 billion, logging a negative growth of 0.35 per cent, as compared to 8.37 per cent during November.
