India’s April-November trade gap widens to $117 billion

Fears about the India's bulging trade deficit have come true with the commerce ministry today acknowledging that the country's trade gap for April-November 2011 has been underestimated by around $9 billion.

Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar put the country's trade deficit for April-November 2011 at $116.8 billion, up from the projected $107 billion.

Khullar also agreed there was a goof-up of export data for the April-November 2011 period, which got inflated by as much as $9 billion.

"Every damn number for the last eight months has been revised," Khullar said.

Khullar also slashed the country's export growth for the rest of the financial year ending 31 March 2012 amidst falling demand for the country's products. He said the government was facing a serious balance of trade problem and will have a tough time meeting its fiscal deficit target.

Cumulative imports into the country during April-November zoomed to $309.5 billion, rising 30.2 per cent year-on-year while its exports for the period rose 33.2 per cent to $192.7 billion. This pushed the country's balance of trade to (-) $116.8 billion for the first five months of the current financial year.