Easing pressure on country’s external sector as well as domestic currency, India’s trade deficit narrowed to 10-month low at $9.43 billion in month of December as compared to $16.86 billion in November and $10.19 billion in the same month of previous year. The significant decline in trade deficit led by falling imports due to slump in crude oil prices, though exports too have come down in December.
India’s import during December was declined by 4.78% y-o-y to $34.83 billion, leading to improvement in the trade balance situation. Gold imports showed an increase from year-ago level to $1.34 billion during the reported month, but it is a substantial decline from the previous month $5.61 billion. During April-December FY15, India’s imports grew by 3.63% to $351.20 billion from $338.91 billion reported in the same period of previous fiscal.
On the other hand, domestic overseas shipments declined by 3.77% to $25.40 billion in December from $26.39 billion in the same month of previous year, reflecting the prevailing slowdown in global market. During April-December FY15, the value of India’s overseas shipments increased by 4.02% to $241.15 billion from $231.83 billion in the same period of previous financial year. It seems difficult to achieve the set exports’ target of $340 billion for FY15 as it would require average exports of $33 billion per month as against $26-27 billion per month in the past. India’s trade deficit during the first nine months of current fiscal widened to $110.05 billion as against $107.07 billion in the same period of previous financial year.
