India’s April-January FY16 trade deficit hits $106.8 billion

India accumulated a trade deficit of $106.8 billion during the first ten months of the current financial year (April-January 2015-16) on the back of falling exports and a falling rupee.

However, a fall in imports helped narrow the country's trade deficit in January to $7.63 billion.

Merchandise exports during January 2016 were valued at $21.08 billion (Rs141.738.07 crore), which was 13.60 per cent lower in dollar terms and 6.62 per cent lower in rupee terms compared with exports worth $24.39 billion (Rs151,791.26 crore) during January 2015.

Cumulative value of exports for April-January 2015-16 stood at $217.68 billion (Rs1,415,061.06 crore) against $264.32 billion (Rs1,609,885.66 crore), a 17.65 per cent decline in dollar terms and a 12.10 per cent fall in rupee terms over the same period last year.

Non-oil exports in January 2016 were valued at $19.12 billion against $21.37 billion in January 2015, a reduction of 10.55 per cent.

Non-oil exports during April to January 2016 were valued at $192.41 billion compared with $212.73 billion for the corresponding period in 2015, a reduction of 9.6 per cent.

A commerce ministry release says the trend of falling exports is in tandem with other major world economies.

The growth in exports to the US has fallen 10.51 per cent, exports to European Union were down 9.48 per cent and exports to China were down 7.01 per cent in  November 2015 over the corresponding period of the previous year as per WTO statistics.

Imports during January 2016 were valued at $28.71 billion (Rs193,111.64 crore), which was 11.01 per cent lower in dollar terms and 3.82 per cent lower in rupee terms over the level of imports valued at $32.27 billion (Rs200,774.18 crore) in January 2015.

Cumulative value of imports for April-January 2015-16 stood at $324.53 billion (Rs2,108,961.04 crore) against $383.88 billion (Rs2,337,629.58 crore) registering a negative growth of 15.46 per cent in dollar terms and a 9.78 per cent fall in rupee terms over the same period last year.

Oil imports during January 2016 were valued at $5.03 billion which was 39.01 per cent lower than oil imports valued at $8.24 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Oil imports during April-January 2015-16 were valued at $73.09 billion, which was 41.43 per cent lower than oil imports of $124.80 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Non-oil imports during January 2016 were estimated at $23.69 billion, which was 1.40 per cent lower than non-oil imports worth $24.02 billion in January 2015.

Non-oil imports during April-January 2015-16 were valued at $251.43 billion, which was 2.95 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at $259.08 billion in April-January 2014-15.

As per RBI's press release, the trade balance in services (ie, net export of services) for December 2015 was estimated at $6.851 billion.

Net export of services for April-December 2015-16 was estimated at $54.86 billion, which is lower than net export of services worth $56.47 billion during April-December 2014-15.

India's overall trade deficit, including merchandise and services trade, for April-January 2015-16 is estimated at $51.99 billion as compared to $63.09 billion over the same period last year.

RBI data showed a 17.59 per cent fall in trade deficit during April-December as December 2015 is the latest data available.