India piles up $45.04-bn trade deficit in April-July FY16

India piled up a trade deficit of $45.04 billion for the first four months of the current financial year (April-July 2015-16) despite a decline in the country's overall trade. The deficit, however, was lower compared to $47.55 billion recorded during April-July 2014-15.

The country added $12.81 billion to its current account deficit to take the trade deficit for April-July 2015-16 to an estimated $45.04 billion.

India's merchandise exports during July 2015 were valued at $23.14 billion (Rs147,233.94 crore), which was 10.30 per cent lower in dollar terms and 4.95 per cent lower in rupee terms compared to the level of $25.79 billion (Rs154,907.25 crore) during July 2014.

Cumulative exports for the period April-July 2015-16 stood at $89.83 billion (Rs570,549.18 crore) against $105.73 billion (Rs632,793.07 crore), registering a negative growth of (-) 15.04 per cent in dollar terms and (-) 9.84 per cent in rupee terms compared to exports in the same period last year.

India imported merchandise worth $35.95 billion (Rs228,766.07 crore) bin July 2015, which was 10.28 per cent lower in dollar terms and 4.94 per cent lower in rupee terms  compared to imports valued at $40.07 billion (Rs240,642.83 crore) in July 2014.

Cumulative imports for April-July 2015-16 stood at $134.87 billion (Rs856,596.37 crore) against $153.27 billion (Rs917,413.18 crore), registering a negative growth of (-) 12.01 per cent in dollar terms and a (-) 6.63 per cent growth in rupee terms year-on-year.

Imports of crude oil, the single-largest item in the country's import basket, were valued at $9.49 billion in July 2015, which was 34.91 per cent lower than oil imports valued at $14.57 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Oil imports during April-July 2015-16 were valued at $34.14 billion, which was 37.91 per cent lower than oil imports of $54.99 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Non-oil imports during July 2015 were estimated at $26.46 billion, which was 3.80 per cent higher than non-oil imports worth $25.49 billion in July 2014.

Non-oil imports during April-July 2015-16 were valued at $100.72 billion, which was 2.48 per cent higher than the such imports valued at $98.28 billion in April-July 2014-15.