MUMBAI, Dec 14 (NNN-PTI) – India’s trade deficit widened to 12.13 billion U.S. dollars in Nov, from 11 billion in Oct, the commerce ministry said, on Friday.
Exports contracted for the fourth straight month in Nov, while the decline in imports eased on sequential basis. However, the deficit narrowed compared to last Nov, at 17.58 billion U.S. dollars.
During the month under review, India’s exports were at 25.98 billion dollars, while imports stood at 38.11 billion dollars.
“The substantial fall in imports of transport equipment is concerning, as is the decline in imports of various industrial inputs, spanning items such as coal, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, project goods, organic and inorganic chemicals, although this partly reflects a YoY decline in commodity prices,” said Aditi Nayar, Vice President and Principal Economist, ICRA, a credit rating agency.
In Nov, oil imports were 11.06 billion dollars, down 18.17 percent on year, while gold imports were estimated at 2.94 billion dollars, up 6.59 percent.
However, in the current fiscal year, from Apr to Nov, the trade deficit of India narrowed sharply to 54.06 billion dollars from 82.47 billion dollars, in the corresponding period in the previous year.
India’s GDP growth has been at the slowest pace in six years to 4.5 percent, in the Jul-Sept quarter. Economists expect the growth to slow down further to 4.3 percent in Oct-Dec period, before a weak uptick in the subsequent Jan-Mar quarter at 4.7 percent.
