NEW DELHI: India’s export figures fell for the seventeenth consecutive month in April, dipping 6.74 per cent to $20.5 billion. The major factors for the fall included the sharp fall in shipments of engineering and petroleum products due to lacklustre global demand.
Exports have been witnessing a steady fall since December 2014 spurred by the slide in oil prices and weak global demand. Overseas shipments of petroleum products too shrank 28.15 per cent to $1.97 billion, while that of engineering goods declined by 19 per cent to $4.76 billion. The two sectors are significant contributors to the country’s total export figure.
“The trend of falling exports is in tandem with other major world economies. Growth in exports have fallen for the US (3.87 per cent), EU (0.04 per cent), China (25.34 per cent) and Japan (1.10 per cent) for February over the corresponding period of previous year as per WTO statistics,” the Commerce Ministry said while releasing the trade data for the month.
However, India’s imports too have fallen for the month, dipping by 23.1 per cent - oil imports in dipping by 24.01 per cent while non-oil imports fell by 22.83 per cent. Trade deficit in April has consequently fallen by more than half to $4.84 billion, compared to $11 billion during the same month last year.