Country’s trade deficit widened to one-and-a-half year high of $16.86 billion in November due to over six-fold jump in gold imports even as merchandise exports grew by 7.27 per cent.
Trade deficit in November last year was $ 9.57 billion. Gold imports stood at $ 5.61 billion in November this year as against $835.83 million in the corresponding month in 2013, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry.
Total imports in November, including oil, jumped by 26.79 per cent to $ 42.82 billion. Oil imports dipped by 9.7 per cent to $11.71 billion. Non-oil imports, however, grew by 49.6 per cent to $ 31.10 billion.
Merchandise exports grew to $ 25.96 billion after recording a contraction in October. During April-November, imports were up 4.65 per cent to $316.37 billion, while exports were up 5.02 per cent to $ 215.75 billion.
Non-oil imports during April-November 2014-15 were valued at $209.81 billion posting a growth of 8.1 per cent higher than imports worth $194.04 billion in April-November, 2013-14. Trade deficit during this period stood at $100.61 billion as against $96.89 billion in the same period last fiscal.