India’s exports contracted for the third month in a row in October by 1.11 per cent to $26.38 billion mainly on account of a significant dip in shipments of petroleum, carpet, leather products, rice and tea.
Imports too declined by 16.31 per cent to $37.39 billion in October, narrowing the trade deficit to $11 billion, according to the government data released on Friday.
Gold imports increased by about 5 per cent to $1.84 billion in the month.
The trade deficit stood at $18 billion in October 2018.
Out of the 30 key sectors, as many as 18 segments showed negative growth in exports during the month under review.
Shipments of petroleum goods, carpet, leather products, rice and tea contracted by 14.6 per cent, 17 per cent, 7.6 per cent, 29.5 per cent and 6.16 per cent respectively.
The country’s outbound shipments have remained subdued so far this year. It may have a bearing on the overall economic growth, which fell to over six-year low of 5 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Industrial output declined by 4.3 per cent in September due to poor performance by manufacturing, power generation and mining sectors.
The outbound shipments contracted by 6 per cent in August and 6.57 per cent in September.
In October, oil imports declined by 31.74 per cent to $9.63 billion, and non-oil imports fell by 9.19 per cent to $27.76 billion.