Exports fall by one percent in December, trade deficit down to $22 billion
New Delhi| India’s exports declined by nearly one percent year-on-year to $38.01 billion for the second consecutive month in December 2024 due to global uncertainties, during which time the trade deficit narrowed to $21.94 billion.
Imports rose nearly 5 percent on a year-on-year basis to US$59.95 billion in December, according to Commerce Ministry data. Overall, exports increased by 1.6 per cent to $321.71 billion during April-December in the current fiscal year, while imports increased by 5.15 per cent to $532.48 billion.
The trade deficit, which is the gap between imports and exports, increased to US$ 210.77 billion during April-December, from US$ 189.74 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Briefing the media about the latest data, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that India’s exports in both goods and services are doing better than other countries.
“This shows the resilience of our exports”, he told reporters here. We have also performed better in all three quarters of this financial year. We’re doing much better in non-petroleum exports.” The Ministry recently held a meeting with the commercial branches of Indian missions in 20 countries, in which issues affecting exports and ways to address them have been discussed. These 20 countries account for about 60 per cent of India’s exports.
In December last year, Barthwal had said that sectors which have registered good growth in exports include electronics, engineering and pharmaceuticals. Asked about revisions to gold and silver import figures for November 2024, the secretary said a committee has been formed to create a robust mechanism to publish consistent data.
The government revised the gold import figures for November 2024, reducing the number by US$5 billion to US$9.84 billion. “Figures keep getting revised”, Barthwal said…We’re following global practices of releasing statistics.”
