NEW DELHI: Continuing its declining trend, the country’s exports shrank by about 20.19 per cent in May to $22.34 billion, marking a fall for the sixth straight month. The slump in exports is mainly due to global slowdown and dip in crude oil prices. The country’s merchandise exports stood at $27.99 billion during the same period last year.
The last time exports registered a positive growth was in November last year when it expanded 7.27 per cent.
The trade deficit also narrowed to a three-month low in May, bolstering the outlook for its current account balance. The trade deficit shrank to $10.41 billion last month, its lowest since February, from $10.99 billion in April, according to the Commerce Ministry data. Gold imports, however, grew 10.47 per cent to $2.42 billion in May.
The main exporting sectors including petroleum products, gems and jewellery, engineering and chemicals reported a negative growth in May. Most exporters have raised their concerns as this could hurt the growing economy.
“It is matter of serious and grave concern as the decline has further exasperated. This, if allowed to continue, will severely impact the Indian economy,” Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president S C Ralhan said.
Most analysts says that there is a slump in global demand. China, too has reported a third consecutive month of decline in exports. South Korea said that its May exports were down 11 per cent - biggest slump in six years.
“Fall in exports is becoming a trend and it is really worrying. Indian exporters need fiscal stimulus to become competitive,” said Anupam Shah, chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council of India.
Imports also declined by 16.52 per cent for the month to $32.75 billion. It was steepest since February 2014 when imports contracted by 17.09 per cent.
Oil imports also dropped 40.97 per cent in May to $8.53 billion. Non-oil imports too came down by 2.24 per cent to $24.21 billion.
