India's exports showed a healthy growth of 20.47 per cent in January this fiscal over the same month last year.
NEW DELHI: India's exports showed a healthy growth of 20.47 per cent in January this fiscal over the same month last year, but expanded by a single digit figure of 7.66 per cent in rupee terms due to pricey domestic currency.
Exports increased to 13.14 billion dollars in January 2008 from 10.9 billion dollars a year ago, while imports grew by a huge 63.57 per cent to 22.50 billion dollars, leaving a trade deficit of 9.36 billion dollars.
With only two months to go for conclusion of the current financial year, exports during April-January period amounted to 124.19 billion dollars, leaving a balance of 35.81 billion dollars to meet the 160 billion dollar target.
"We hope to achieve exports in the range of 150 to 155 billion dollars in the current fiscal," Commerce Secretary G K Pillai said.
Imports for the April-January period of 2007-08 stood at 191.6 billion dollars, registering a growth of 29.63 per cent from 147.81 billion dollars in the year ago period.
Trade deficit for the 10-month period amounted to 67.4 billion dollars, higher than the 45.7 billion dollars in April-January 2006-07.
Presenting the Budget 2008-09, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said: "Merchandise exports have come under some pressure due to the appreciation of the rupee and may fall just short of the target of 160 billion dollars, although
the growth rate was strong at 21.8 per cent during April-December 2007-08".
During the fiscal, rupee has appreciated against major currencies, including that of the US, UK, Japan, Euroland, China and Hong Kong. It rose by 9.8 per cent against the US dollar between April 3, 2007 and January 16, 2008.
"Exporters expectations have been belied. They were expecting some relief from the Finance Minister in Budget 2008-09," Federation of Indian Export Organisations' President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said.
He said it is commendable that Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has decided to approach the Prime Minister to seek requisite relief for the exporters.
Oil imports during January 2008 were valued at 7.7 billion dollars, up 60.8 per cent from the 4.8 billion dollars in the corresponding month last year.
For the April-January period of the current fiscal, India's oil imports stood at 57 billion dollars, which was 16.49 per cent higher than 48.9 billion dollars a year ago.
Non-oil imports during the month stood at 14.7 billion dollars, up 65 per cent from 8.96 billion dollars. For the 10-month period, non-oil imports grew by 36.13 per cent to 134.58 billion dollars.
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