NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit increased to $18.71 billion in February from $17.49 billion in January, with imports exceeding exports, amid red sea crisis, as per recent official data.
Goods imports surged to $60.11 billion in February from $54.41 billion in January, while exports increased to $41.40 billion from $36.92 billion. Goods exports grew by 11.86% compared to $37.01 billion in February 2023, with imports rising by 12%, according to the commerce ministry data.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal attributed the slight export growth to the Red Sea conflict, stating that without disruptions in the Suez Canal, export numbers could have shown significant variance. In addition, in the month of February, service exports remained stagnant at $32.15 billion compared to $32.80 billion a year earlier, whereas service imports decreased to $15.39 billion from $16.05 billion.
For the current financial year from April to February, merchandise exports dropped by 3.45% in February, while imports fell by 5.32%. Services exports rose by 6.76%, while services imports declined by 1.95% during the same period.
As per Barthwal, this is the highest export growth India has seen in both merchandise, as well as services in the last11 months of the current financial year. “We have surpassed last year’s figures. This gives us a lot of hope that when we come to end of March, our overall exports will be higher than last year’s record exports. The trend continues despite so many difficulties,” Barthwal said.
Barthwal expressed optimism for the upcoming fiscal year, citing the ability to endure a challenging period and highlighting resilience in the export sector. He anticipates a positive outlook for 2024-25, suggesting it will be a strong year ahead and that the difficult year is over.