Exports of merchandise grew in double digit for the second month in a row in June at 10.22 per cent but spurt in gold imports pushed the trade deficit to 11-month high of $11.76 billion.
Sectors that helped in pushing exports in June include textiles (14.39 per cent), petroleum products (38.3 per cent), engineering (21.57 per cent), leather (15 per cent), marine products (27.49 per cent), oil seeds (44.4 per cent) and tobacco (31 per cent).
Exports in June stood at $ 26.47 billion as compared to $24.02 billion in the same month last year. According to exporters body Fieo, outbound shipments have registered double digit growth on account of improvement in the global demand.
“Demand is improving in advanced as well as in emerging markets. The figure is encouraging and we expect it to continue. This fiscal exports will be better than the previous fiscal,” Fieo President Rafeeq Ahmed said.
Cumulatively, in the April-June period, too, exports grew by 9.31 per cent to $80.11 billion.
“While the rise of over 9 per cent in cumulative exports during the first quarter of 2013-14 reflects a steady improvement in global demand, we need to stay vigilant on trade deficit that has shot up to an 11-month high,” Ficci President Sidharth Birla said.
However, the growth in exports during the month under review was low as compared to May when it recorded a growth of 12.4 per cent. Trade deficit, too, was higher in June as against $ 11.23 billion in May and $11.28 billion in June 2013.
After registering a negative growth since October last year, gold imports in June jumped 65.13 per cent to $ 3.12 billion from $1.88 billion during the same month last year.
In October 2013, gold imports stood at $1.3 billion, registering a growth of 62.5 per cent.
Engineering exporters’ body EEPC India Chairman Anupam Shah attributed the rise in exports of engineering goods to uptick in the US economy.
Imports in June too increased by 8.33 per cent year-on-year to $38.24 billion, according to the Commerce Ministry data.
The weak rupee is also expected to have a positive impact on exports. The rupee depreciated by 15 paise to 60.27 against the US dollar in early trade today
Imports, however, dipped by 6.92 per cent to $ 113.19billion during the first three months of this financial year.
Trade deficit during the period stood at $ 33.08 billion, lower then $48.32 billion in April-June 2013-14.
Oil imports increased by 10.9 per cent in June to $13.34 billion. Non-oil imports during the month under review were up by 7 per cent to $24.9 billion.
Import sectors which grew at a healthy rate are vegetable oil (21.3 per cent), coal & coke (5.5 per cent), chemicals (18.78 per cent), iron & steel (18.24 per cent) and electronic goods (8 per cent).
Sectors which saw negative growth are - pearls, precious & semi-precious stones (2.2 per cent), silver (53.3 per cent), project goods (40.39 per cent), transport equipment (10.86 per cent), machine tools (7.39 per cent) and cotton (45.34 per cent).
Export sectors which recorded negative growth rate include tea (13.78 per cent), coffee (8.75 per cent), oil meals (48.2 per cent), iron ore (66 per cent) and electronic goods (24.5 per cent).
For the first time, the Commerce Ministry has also released data of services exports, which stood at $13.9 billion May 2014; while imports were $ 8.027 billion.