NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit in December widened to $14.88 billion, up 41 per cent year-on-year, according to the trade data released by the commerce ministry.
Exports rose 12.36 per cent in December to $27.03 billion year-on-year on account of strong performance by sectors like engineering goods and petroleum products. Exports of engineering goods as well as petroleum products showed an increase of over 25 per cent in December, while ready-made garments declined by 8 per cent to $1.33 billion last month.
Imports surged significantly to $41.91 billion, up 21.12 per cent, on increased inbound shipments of crude oil and gold. Gold imports surged 71.5 per cent to $3.39 billion last month against $1.97 billion in December 2016. Imports of petroleum products and crude oil shot up 35 per cent to $10.34 billion in December, compared to $7.66 billion a year ago.
The cumulative value of exports for the period April-December 2017 was $223.5 billion against $199.5 billion in the year-ago period, registering a growth of 12.05 per cent, while imports during the first nine months of the current fiscal amounted to $338.4 billion, up 21.76 per cent. Trade deficit for the first nine months widened to $114.85 billion.
Ganesh Kumar Gupta, president of FIEO, said, “We are on the course to achieving the milestone of $300 billion in 2017-18.” He, however, said that the rising trade deficit is alarming.
“The import profile needs to be analysed carefully to see whether imports would augment domestic production or shall pose a challenge for the same,” he added.
While the decline in exports of minerals is understandable, a similar trend for apparel is extremely disappointing as appreciation of the Indian rupee would further blunt the competitive edge of the sector, Gupta noted.
He added that the rising import of gold and precious and semi-precious stones can help the exports of gems & jewellery sector in the next few months.
He also raised concern over the huge problem of exporters in getting refund of ITC both due to ignorance and recalcitrant approach of the tax authorities.
“Exporters should be given reasons for the delay and there should be close monitoring of GST refund for exports on a day-to-day basis,” the FIEO president added.