India’s trade deficit hits all-time high of $184.9 bn; exports cross $300 bn mark

02 May 2012 Evaluate

Despite a sluggish global market, India’s exports crossed the $300 billion mark and grew $303.7 billion in FY’12 as against $251.1 billion in FY’11, registering a growth of 20.94% y-o-y. However, imports grew by 32.15% to $488.6 billion in March due to rising oil and non-oil imports. As a result the trade deficit or the gap between exports and imports for the FY’12 was estimated at $184.9 billion which was 56% higher than the deficit of $118.6 million during April-March 2010-11.

The large trade deficit is a cause of concern but very little can be done to check it as the increase has largely been on account of large imports of petroleum, gold, silver and coal besides machinery inputs.  Oil imports were up by a whopping 47% and stood at $155.63 billion during 2011-12 over the previous year's $105.9 billion. The non-oil imports grew 26% to $333 billion over the previous year’s $263.8 billion.

For the month of March 2012, exports fell by 5.7% and stood at $28.6 billion ($30.4 billion). Imports during March grew 24% to $42.5 billion ($34.2 billion). The oil imports during March rose by a good 32.45% to $15.83 billion over $11.95 billion in corresponding last year. The non-oil imports also went up by 20% to $26.7 billion in March. The trade figures have come in at worrisome levels especially after the recent revision in outlook on long-term credit rating by Standard and Poor's. However, the rise has been chiefly due to the surge in the ‘relatively inelastic’ oil imports.

Going forward, as per Rafeeque Ahmed, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the deficit can be bridged by increasing exports through market and product diversification. The government can also provide incentives to exporters through policy measures like lowering of interest rates on credit and providing rebate on State and local taxes. Greater marketing support to micro and small enterprises through creation of an Export Development Fund can also help in improving the export figures.

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