India’s exports jump 30% to $26 bn in Nov; imports up by 19.6%

The Dollar Business Bureau

India’s exports has witnessed a sharp jump of 30% year-on-year in the month of November, on the back of good growth in the outward shipments of engineering goods, petroleum products, gems & jewellery and organic & inorganic chemicals.

“Exports during November 2017 have exhibited high positive growth of 30.55% in dollar terms, vis-à-vis November 2016. This is on the pattern of positive growth in exports in last thirteen months with a dip of 1.12% in October 2017 vis-à-vis same period last year,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“During November, exports are valued at $26.19 billion as compared to $20.06 billion in the same month last year. In rupee terms, exports registered an increase of 25.21% were valued at Rs.169912 crore as compared to Rs.135699 crore in November last year.

The major commodity groups that recorded a positive growth in shipments during November this year are organic & inorganic chemicals (54.28%), petroleum products (47.68%), engineering goods (43.76%), gems & jewellery (32.69%), and drugs & pharmaceuticals (13.39%).

Cumulatively, during April-November period, the exports stood at $196.48 billion (Rs.1267771 crore) as compared to $175.41 billion (Rs.1174997 crore) witnessing a positive growth of 12.01% in dollar terms and 7.9% in rupee terms over the same period a year ago.

On the other hand, imports into the country has recorded a growth of 19.61% in November, leading to a marginal increase in the trade deficit to $13.8 billion.

“Imports during November were valued at $40 billion (Rs.259612 crore) which was 19.61% higher in dollar terms and 14.73% higher in rupee terms over the level of imports valued at $33.46 billion (Rs.226288 crore) in November, 2016,” the statement said.

The highest growth is recorded in the inward shipments of pearls, precious & semi-precious stones with 85.8% increase over the previous year. It was followed by coal, coke & briquettes (51.8%), petroleum, crude & products (39.14%), electronic goods (24.97%) and machinery, electrical & non-electrical (23.24%).

During the April-November period, the cumulative value of imports was $296.45 billion (Rs.1913047 crore) as against $243.29 billion (Rs.1630199 crore) registering a positive growth of 21.85% in dollar terms and 17.35% in rupee terms over the same period last year.

For November 2017, the trade deficit was estimated at $13.8 billion as against the deficit of $13.4 billion during the same month last year.

During April-November, taking merchandise and services together, overall trade deficit is doubled to $60.9 billion as compared to $30 billion during same period a year ago.