Exports Registered a Meagre 10.8 per cent Growth at $19.8 billion in October 2011

According to the data released by the Commerce Ministry, exports registered a meagre 10.8 per cent growth at $19.8 billion in October2011. Demand contraction in traditional markets such as Europe and the US coupled with Indian government’s policies resulted in the dip in export. The growth rate was the lowest since October 2009 when it contracted by 6.6 per cent.

Imports soared in October 2011 rising by 21.7 per cent at $39.5 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $19.6 billion. The trade deficit was the highest ever in any month in the last four years. The trade imbalance was attributed to expensive crude oil and vegetable oils.

Export growth slipped to 44.25 per cent in August, 36.36 per cent in September and 10.8 per cent in October from a peak of 82 per cent in July 2011.

In October, oil imports grew 20.73 per cent at $10 billion, whereas non-oil imports rose by 22 per cent to $29.4 billion.

Exports aggregated to $179.7 billion, showing a handsome growth of 45.9 per cent in the April-October period. However, a steady rise of 30.9 per cent in imports for the seven-month period to $273.4 billion left the trade gap widening to $93.7 billion. During April-October, oil imports stood at $81.9 billion thereby marking an increase of 40 per cent. Non-oil imports rose by 27.1 per cent to $191.5 billion.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations President Ramu S. Deora commented that exports would suffer in the third and fourth quarters of 2011-12. He also expressed serious concern over drop in exports in value terms for products such as engineering.