TLI Staff
New Delhi: Amid slowdown in major economies and continuing geo-political uncertainties, India’s merchandise exports fell 6.6% year-on-year in January 2023 to US$ 32.91 billion.
The value of merchandise exports in January 2022 had stood at US$ 35.23 billion.
The data released by Commerce Ministry on Wednesday showed, India’s merchandise imports during January 2023 were US$ 50.66 billion, as compared to US$ 52.57 billion in January 2022.
The trade deficit during January 2023 was US$ 17.75 billion.
Major commodities that witnessed negative growth in January this year included iron ore, meat, dairy & poultry products, engineering goods, leather & leather products, gems & jewellery, and organic & inorganic chemicals.
Commenting on January trade data, EEPC India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said, “The engineering exports sector has been witnessing a downward trend for the last almost seven months in the current financial year primarily due to weak demand from key markets including China. The official data shows that engineering goods exports declined 9.8 percent year-on-year in January 2023 to US$ 8.40 billion.
The global headwinds pose a serious challenge to the sector in achieving the annual export target.”
On cumulative basis, merchandise exports for the period April-January 2022-23 were US$ 369.25 billion as against US$ 340.28 billion during the corresponding period a year ago. During this period, merchandise imports were US$ 602.20 billion.
“The merchandise trade deficit for April-January 2022-23 was estimated at USD 232.95 billion as against USD 153.79 billion in April-January 2021-22,” Commerce Ministry said in its media release.
India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in January 2023 are estimated to be US$ 65.15 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 14.58% over the same period last year.
“The overall export growth in the current financial year is about 17.33%. The main engine behind this export growth is the services sector, which has been growing at historically high growth rate of about 30%. Merchandise exports are also cumulatively growing at 8.5%. We are optimistic that this growth momentum would continue despite strong global headwinds,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said.
The lower merchandise exports could take some shine off the economy.
On the back of strong demand in post-Covid world and favourable base, the share of exports of goods and services in India’s GDP had increased from 18.7% in 2020-21 to 21.4% in 2021-22.