India’s April-January trade deficit narrows to $119.96 bin
11 Feb 2014
India's trade deficit during the first 10 months of the current financial year (April-January 2013-14) is estimated to have declined to $119.96 billion, compared to the deficit of $165.81 billion during April-January 2012-13, on the back of falling imports.
Had it not been for oil imports valued at $138.14 billion during April-January 2013-14, the country would have posted a trade surplus of over $18 billion during the first 10 months of the current fiscal.
India imported goods and services valued at $36.67 billion (Rs227,607.45 crore) during January 2014, registering a negative growth of 18.07 per cent in dollar terms and a negative growth of 6.37 per cent in rupee terms over imports valued at $44.75 billion (Rs243,093.11 crore) in January 2013.
Cumulative value of imports for April-January 2013-14 stood at $377.04 billion (Rs22,64,175.77 crore) against $409 billion (Rs22,27,033.70 crore), registering a negative growth of 7.81 per cent in dollar terms and a growth of 1.67 per cent in rupee terms over the same period last year.
Exports during January 2014 were valued at $26.75 billion (Rs166,067.93 crore), which was 3.79 per cent higher in dollar terms and 18.62 per cent higher in rupee terms compared to $25.78 billion (Rs140,002.59 crore) during January 2013.
Cumulative value of exports for the period April-January 2013-14 stood at $257.09 billion (Rs15,52,564.25 crore) against $243.19 billion (Rs13,24,751.53 crore) - a growth of 5.71 per cent in dollar terms and a growth of 17.20 per cent in rupee terms year-on-year.
Oil imports, which account for most of the country's trade deficit, were valued at $13.19 billion during January 2014, and was 10.1 per cent lower than oil imports valued at $14.67 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Oil imports during April-January 2013-14 were valued at $138.14 billion, which was 1.2 per cent higher than the oil imports of $136.50 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Non-oil imports during January 2014 were estimated at $23.48 billion, which was 22.0 per cent lower than non-oil imports worth $30.09 billion in January 2013.
Non-oil imports during April-January 2013-14 were valued at $238.90 billion, which was 12.3 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at $272.50 billion in April-January 2012-13.