India's merchandise exports dipped 24% in September for the 10th month in a row, mainly due to steep fall in shipments of petroleum products, iron ore and engineering goods amid slack global demand.
Also affecting imports that shrank 25.4% to $32.3 billion in September on yearly basis, narrowing the trade gap to 10.5 billion from $ 14.5 billion recorded in the same month of 2014. Exports in September 2014 were valued at $28.9 billion. The cumulative exports during the first half of 2015-16 have been valued at $132.9 billion versus $161.4 billion in the same period of last year. Exports were down 17.4% year-on-year in the first half of 2015-16. As per the data released by he Commerce Ministry, the trade gap or trade deficit during April-September 2015-16 has narrowed to $67.9 billion as against $72.7 billion in the same period last fiscal. The data further showed that imports during September were valued at $6.6 billion down 54.5% year-on-year. Imports during April-September stood at $48.1 billion which were 41.6% lower than that of $82.4 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Gold imports declined by 45.6% in September to $2 billion from $3.8 billion in the same month of 2014. On export front, shipments of petroleum products shrank 60.4% to $2.4 billion while that of iron ore declined by 40.4% to 9.5 million. A sharp decline in exports of engineering products was also witnessed in September. The shipments declined by 22.8% to $5 billion from $6.5 billion in the year ago period. The decline in exports in September is the steepest since March 2015 when the shipments shrunk by 21.1%.
