January imports drop 18.07%, lower trade deficit to $9.92 bn
12 Feb 2014 12:37 AM GMT
Director general of Foreign Trade Anup Pujari said export growth was in single digit because of a decline in outbound shipments of major products — gems and jewellery and petroleum.
‘Petroleum, gems and jewellery have shown a decline in exports. As a result, when our major two things among the top four are showing decline, exports are not going far,’ he said.
Petroleum and gems and jewellery exports in January contracted by 13.1 per cent and 9.39 per cent, respectively. Imports fell by 18.07 per cent to $36.6 billion in January.
A decline gold and silver imports mainly contributed to bridging the trade gap. Their imports dipped by 77 per cent to $1.72 billion in January from $7.49 billion in the same month last year. Oil imports too declined by 10.1 per cent in the month under review to $13.18 billion.
Apex exporters body FIEO expressed serious concerns over the declining trend in exports from October, 2013 onwards.
‘The continued modest growth in exports is worrisome to achieve the targets for this fiscal. It indicates that Indian exporters need immediate attention to bring exports back on track,’ Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Rafeeque Ahmed said in a statement.
After registering 13.47 per cent growth in October, 2013, exports recorded a growth of 5.86 per cent and 3.49 per cent in November and December respectively.
The upward trend in exports is maintained and that gives satisfaction, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said, adding that there is a lot that needs to be done. He expressed happiness at the lower trade deficit.
‘Yes, Gold smuggling cases on rise; no, Govt won’t cut import duties’
New Delhi: Government on Tuesday said that there has been a rise in cases of gold smuggling due to increase in customs duty rate, but ruled out any immediate change in the duty structure of the precious metal. The enforcement agencies during the first nine months of 2013-14 have seized 1,074.41 kg of gold as against 326.23 kg seized during the entire 2012-13 fiscal, Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. ‘The cases booked by DRI and customs field formations indicate that there has been an increase in gold smuggling during the past one year. The increase may be partly attributable to the fluctuation of the price of gold and customs duty rate,’ he said.
The minister further pointed out that 514 people have been arrested so far in the current financial year for smuggling of gold as against 154 persons during 2012-13. On whether the government is considering revoking the restrictions on gold import, Seelam said: ‘At present there is no such proposal under consideration.’ In order to contain the current account deficit, the government had hiked import duty on gold thrice last year to 10 per cent.
Deceleration unabated: Car sales fell 7.59% last month
Greater Noida: Car sales in India fell for the fourth straight month in January this year with a decline of 7.59 per cent, prompting industry body SIAM to seek government support in the upcoming interim Budget.
According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales stood at 1,60,289 units in January this year compared to 1,73,449 vehicles in the same month of 2013.
Compounding the problem for the auto industry was the prolonged slump in the commercial vehicles (CV) segment, under which heavy and medium CVs saw 23rd month of consecutive drop in sales.
‘The downward trend continues. There is no respite for the auto industry. We are having a huge hope from the government that in the vote-on-account Budget, there will be some support for the auto industry,’ SIAM deputy director general Sugato Sen told reporters on the sidelines of Auto Expo here.
He said the situation now is worse than that in 2008-09, when the government had provided relief to the industry with policy support.
‘We are hoping that there will be reduction in excise duty. For the CV segment, we have been asking for a fleet modernisation scheme and also implementation of load management,’ Sen said but did not specify the exact amount of excise duty cut the industry body was expecting.
Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel has already written to the Finance Mnistry seeking reduction in excise duty on CVs to 8 per cent from 12 per cent.
At present, automobiles attract excise duty ranging from 12-30 per cent, Sen said. Reflecting the sluggish market, car market leader Maruti Suzuki India in January posted 6.88 per cent decline in its domestic sales at 82,461 units as against 88,557 in the same month last year. Hyundai Motor India Ltd also posted 2.61 per cent dip in sales during the month at 33,351 units as compared to 34,247 vehicles in January last year. Homegrown Tata Motors saw its sales decline by 24.38 per cent to 8,463 units in January from 11,192 in the same month last year. Honda Cars India, however, saw its sales increase nearly three-fold to 15,597 units in the month from 5,421 in January 2013.
Sen said the industry is hoping that ‘the positivity created by the Auto Expo with the 70 new unveilings and launches will at least help in exciting the market’.
Total two-wheeler sales in January 2014 grew by 8.85 per cent to 13,13,796 units from 12,06,931 in the same period of previous year, SIAM said. Scooter sales during the month grew by 28.19 per cent to 3,23,162 units as against 2,52,094 in january last year.
‘Petroleum, gems and jewellery have shown a decline in exports. As a result, when our major two things among the top four are showing decline, exports are not going far,’ he said.
Petroleum and gems and jewellery exports in January contracted by 13.1 per cent and 9.39 per cent, respectively. Imports fell by 18.07 per cent to $36.6 billion in January.
A decline gold and silver imports mainly contributed to bridging the trade gap. Their imports dipped by 77 per cent to $1.72 billion in January from $7.49 billion in the same month last year. Oil imports too declined by 10.1 per cent in the month under review to $13.18 billion.
Apex exporters body FIEO expressed serious concerns over the declining trend in exports from October, 2013 onwards.
‘The continued modest growth in exports is worrisome to achieve the targets for this fiscal. It indicates that Indian exporters need immediate attention to bring exports back on track,’ Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Rafeeque Ahmed said in a statement.
After registering 13.47 per cent growth in October, 2013, exports recorded a growth of 5.86 per cent and 3.49 per cent in November and December respectively.
The upward trend in exports is maintained and that gives satisfaction, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said, adding that there is a lot that needs to be done. He expressed happiness at the lower trade deficit.
‘Yes, Gold smuggling cases on rise; no, Govt won’t cut import duties’
New Delhi: Government on Tuesday said that there has been a rise in cases of gold smuggling due to increase in customs duty rate, but ruled out any immediate change in the duty structure of the precious metal. The enforcement agencies during the first nine months of 2013-14 have seized 1,074.41 kg of gold as against 326.23 kg seized during the entire 2012-13 fiscal, Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. ‘The cases booked by DRI and customs field formations indicate that there has been an increase in gold smuggling during the past one year. The increase may be partly attributable to the fluctuation of the price of gold and customs duty rate,’ he said.
The minister further pointed out that 514 people have been arrested so far in the current financial year for smuggling of gold as against 154 persons during 2012-13. On whether the government is considering revoking the restrictions on gold import, Seelam said: ‘At present there is no such proposal under consideration.’ In order to contain the current account deficit, the government had hiked import duty on gold thrice last year to 10 per cent.
Deceleration unabated: Car sales fell 7.59% last month
Greater Noida: Car sales in India fell for the fourth straight month in January this year with a decline of 7.59 per cent, prompting industry body SIAM to seek government support in the upcoming interim Budget.
According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales stood at 1,60,289 units in January this year compared to 1,73,449 vehicles in the same month of 2013.
Compounding the problem for the auto industry was the prolonged slump in the commercial vehicles (CV) segment, under which heavy and medium CVs saw 23rd month of consecutive drop in sales.
‘The downward trend continues. There is no respite for the auto industry. We are having a huge hope from the government that in the vote-on-account Budget, there will be some support for the auto industry,’ SIAM deputy director general Sugato Sen told reporters on the sidelines of Auto Expo here.
He said the situation now is worse than that in 2008-09, when the government had provided relief to the industry with policy support.
‘We are hoping that there will be reduction in excise duty. For the CV segment, we have been asking for a fleet modernisation scheme and also implementation of load management,’ Sen said but did not specify the exact amount of excise duty cut the industry body was expecting.
Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel has already written to the Finance Mnistry seeking reduction in excise duty on CVs to 8 per cent from 12 per cent.
At present, automobiles attract excise duty ranging from 12-30 per cent, Sen said. Reflecting the sluggish market, car market leader Maruti Suzuki India in January posted 6.88 per cent decline in its domestic sales at 82,461 units as against 88,557 in the same month last year. Hyundai Motor India Ltd also posted 2.61 per cent dip in sales during the month at 33,351 units as compared to 34,247 vehicles in January last year. Homegrown Tata Motors saw its sales decline by 24.38 per cent to 8,463 units in January from 11,192 in the same month last year. Honda Cars India, however, saw its sales increase nearly three-fold to 15,597 units in the month from 5,421 in January 2013.
Sen said the industry is hoping that ‘the positivity created by the Auto Expo with the 70 new unveilings and launches will at least help in exciting the market’.
Total two-wheeler sales in January 2014 grew by 8.85 per cent to 13,13,796 units from 12,06,931 in the same period of previous year, SIAM said. Scooter sales during the month grew by 28.19 per cent to 3,23,162 units as against 2,52,094 in january last year.
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