After 8-month negative spell, exports grow 0.82% in Jan
14 Feb 2013 6:33 AM IST
Making a marginal recovery, India's exports entered the positive zone after a gap of eight months, recording a growth of 0.82 per cent to $25.58 in January.
The improvement in exports has been mainly on account of better performance by sectors like engineering goods, textiles and gems and jewellery. Exports in the country have been contracting since May 2012.
The trade deficit, which is the difference between imports and exports, however, continued to be a cause of concern. It soared to a three-month high of $20 billion. The country's exports had stood at $25.37 billion in January, 2012.
Imports too rose by 6.12 per cent to $45.5 billion in the month under review. However, during the April-January period of 2012-13, the country's overseas shipments shrunk by 4.86 per cent to $239.6 billion.
Commenting on the numbers, Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters, 'Export performance in January has shown slightly positive results which is a matter of a bit of happiness and cumulative exports too have shown slight arrest in the fall.'
Rao hoped that the incentive package, which came into force from January, would help the country's exports to 'improve significantly' in the coming months.
'In the last couple of months, there is an arrest in the fall of exports. So we wish forward momentum continues and hopefully the additional incentives should result in better traction as we go forward,' he added. In October 2012, India's exports declined to 1.63 per cent from 11 per cent in September. And in December, the shipments declined by 1.9 per cent from 4.17 per cent in November 2012.
THIS SLIGHT RISE WILL HELP LOWER TRADE GAP AT CLOSE OF FISCAL: SHARMA
MUMBAI: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday expressed optimism that the slight uptick in January exports, which rose 0.8 per cent, will help close the trade gap, which stood at $167.16 billion in the first 10 months of the fiscal.
‘I hope with exports growing marginally in January, it should help us narrow the trade gap at the close of the fiscal,’ Sharma told reporters after launching the Nasscom national summit here.
Blaming rising oil and gold imports for the widening trade gap, Sharma said gold imports are a matter of concern and called for a balanced approach towards gold import duty.
On the factory output numbers, which shrank 0.6 per cent in December, Sharma said, ‘I expect the numbers to improve in January, and that we should be able to close the gap. ‘It is important that the March quarter numbers are positive. As trade account is under stress, high oil and gas prices (are hurting the overall numbers), so oil import bill is definitely a challenge,’ Sharma said.
The improvement in exports has been mainly on account of better performance by sectors like engineering goods, textiles and gems and jewellery. Exports in the country have been contracting since May 2012.
The trade deficit, which is the difference between imports and exports, however, continued to be a cause of concern. It soared to a three-month high of $20 billion. The country's exports had stood at $25.37 billion in January, 2012.
Imports too rose by 6.12 per cent to $45.5 billion in the month under review. However, during the April-January period of 2012-13, the country's overseas shipments shrunk by 4.86 per cent to $239.6 billion.
Commenting on the numbers, Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters, 'Export performance in January has shown slightly positive results which is a matter of a bit of happiness and cumulative exports too have shown slight arrest in the fall.'
Rao hoped that the incentive package, which came into force from January, would help the country's exports to 'improve significantly' in the coming months.
'In the last couple of months, there is an arrest in the fall of exports. So we wish forward momentum continues and hopefully the additional incentives should result in better traction as we go forward,' he added. In October 2012, India's exports declined to 1.63 per cent from 11 per cent in September. And in December, the shipments declined by 1.9 per cent from 4.17 per cent in November 2012.
THIS SLIGHT RISE WILL HELP LOWER TRADE GAP AT CLOSE OF FISCAL: SHARMA
MUMBAI: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday expressed optimism that the slight uptick in January exports, which rose 0.8 per cent, will help close the trade gap, which stood at $167.16 billion in the first 10 months of the fiscal.
‘I hope with exports growing marginally in January, it should help us narrow the trade gap at the close of the fiscal,’ Sharma told reporters after launching the Nasscom national summit here.
Blaming rising oil and gold imports for the widening trade gap, Sharma said gold imports are a matter of concern and called for a balanced approach towards gold import duty.
On the factory output numbers, which shrank 0.6 per cent in December, Sharma said, ‘I expect the numbers to improve in January, and that we should be able to close the gap. ‘It is important that the March quarter numbers are positive. As trade account is under stress, high oil and gas prices (are hurting the overall numbers), so oil import bill is definitely a challenge,’ Sharma said.
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