Exports contract 4.85% in Nov; trade deficit widens to record $37.84 bn

PTI New Delhi: After recording doubl e - digit growth in October, India's exports in November contracted by 4.85% yearon- year to $32.11 billion, while the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of $37.84 billion due to a record surge in gold imports. According to the commerce ministry data, i m p o r t s rose by 27% year-on-year to a record $69.95 billion in November due to high inbound shipments of vegetable oil, fertiliser, and silver. Gold imports during the month under review soared to an all-time high of $14.8 billion as against $3.5 billion in November 2023. Cumulatively, during April-November this fiscal, exports increased by 2.17% to $284.31 billion and imports by 8.35% to $486.73 billion.

Trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, during April-November widened to $202.42 billion from $170.98 billion during April-November 2023. Briefing on the data, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that fluctuations in oil prices are impacting the exports. Petroleum product shipments have declined by about 50% to $3.71 billion last month. During the first eight months of this fiscal also, these exports contracted by 19% year-onyear to $44.6 billion. However, the secretary said that non-oil exports are still recording healthy growth, and this along with the services sector would help the country cross $800 billion of total exports by the end of this fiscal. On high trade deficit and imports, the secretary said one should not be concerned about this as the country is growing. "Therefore, our demand for imports will be higher. As long as our exports and foreign direct investments are growing, it will finance our imports," he said.

He also said that the ministry is focusing on 20 countries and six services and manufacturing sectors including IT/ITeS to further boost the shipments. In these 20 nations, there are huge potential to increase exports and to tap into that, the ministry is in touch with the Indian missions abroad. The ministry is calling a meeting with these missions in January next year and "we will be devising a strategy on how to improve exports in the 20 countries", Barthwal said. As per estimates, services export in November 2024 increased to USD 35.67 billion as compared to USD 28.11 billion in November 2023.

These exports reached an all-time high of $34.31 billion in October, registering an increase of 22.3% year-on-year. Crude oil imports last month rose by 7.9% to $16.11 billion. At export front, key sectors that registered negative growth during the month under review included oil meals, iron ore, coal, gems and jewellery, chemicals and handicrafts. However, sectors that recorded positive growth are textiles, engineering goods, electronics, pharma and spices. Raw cotton raw waste, used in the textiles industry, saw a surge in imports from $30.61 million in November 2023 to $170.73 million last month.