Rise in shipments of engineering goods, gems & jewellery, pharmaceuticals and ready-made garments propped up exports (year-on-year) by 7.27 per cent to $25.96 billion in November 2014.

Trade deficit, however, touched an 18-month high of $16.86 billion as imports rose 26.79 per cent during the month to $42.82 billion. Non-oil items such as gold, fertilisers, coal and electronic goods mostly accounted for the rise in imports.

Exports in October had registered a decline of 5.04 per cent to $26.09 billion over October 2013.

Overall, out-bound shipments during April-November 2014-15 were $215.75 billion compared to $205.43 billion in the same period last year, registering a growth of 5.02 per cent.

Exporters said that while the rise in exports in November was encouraging, many sectors including marine, electronics, petroleum products and cotton yarn & made-ups declined.

According to exporters body FIEO, the government needs to immediately reintroduce the interest subvention scheme for exporters with effect from April 1, 2014.

“Interest burden is hitting the small exporters who are losing their export competitiveness saddled with high interest rates,” FIEO said in a release.

Gold imports zoom Gold imports rose 571.28 per cent to $5.6 billion in November 2014 from $835 million in the same month last year as the government relaxed import restrictions.

Imports for the period April-November 2014-15 were $316.37 billion compared to $302.32 billion posting a growth of 4.65 per cent.

Oil imports during November were valued at $ 11.71 billion which was 9.7 per cent lower than oil imports at $12.97 billion in November 2013. Non-oil imports, on the other hand, were 49.6 per cent higher at $ 31.10 billion compared to the same month last year.

In April-November 2014-15, oil imports were valued at $106.55 billion which was 1.6 per cent lower than oil imports of $108.28 billion in the corresponding period last year.

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 Trade deficit in April-November 2014-15 was $100.61 billion compared to $ 96.89 billion in April-November 2013-14. The Government has been struggling to keep trade deficit in control as it widens the current account deficit which could in turn deteriorate the country’s balance of payment.

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