NEW DELHI: The country’s goods exports in November 2023 contracted by 2.84% year-on-year to $33.9 billion, impacted by global economic and political turmoil. However, imports saw a sharper decline of 4.33% to $54.48 billion, narrowing the merchandise trade deficit to $20.58 billion from the previous month’s record high of $31.46 billion, Commerce Department’s data revealed.
The commerce secretary, Sunil Barthwal, said the global context, including conflicts and unchanged interest rates in major economies have further aggravated trade. While UNCTAD projected a 7.5% fall in global trade in goods for 2023, during January-November 2023, India’s goods exports fell by 5.2%, as per Barthwal. Despite challenging global trade scenario, exports outperformed global trends in 2023 by significant margin, he said.
Notably, engineering goods, petroleum products, ready-made garments, chemicals, leather, and marine products drove the decline in exports, while a decrease in petroleum, coal, chemicals, fertilizers, and vegetable oil contributed to the decline in imports.
From April to November 2023, exports were 6.51% lower at $278.80 billion compared to the same period in 2022, while imports decreased by 8.67% to $445.15 billion. The trade deficit for April-November 2023 was estimated at $166.35 billion, down from $189.21 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Despite the overall decline in exports, 15 out of 30 key sectors, including gems and jewelry, electronic goods, drugs and pharmaceuticals, cotton yarn and made-ups, carpet, iron ore, fruits and vegetables, and meat and dairy products, experienced growth.