India’s exports in July fell by 14.8 percent to $22.4 billion, while the imports too declined by 7.6 percent to $37.9 billion, widening the trade deficit to $15.49 billion.
Oil imports in July fell 5.5 per cent to $12.22 billion and on the other hand the non-oil imports dropped 8.6 per cent to $25.71 billion.
Total exports since this fiscal year, began on April 1, fell 5.1 per cent to $97.65 billion, while imports slid 6.5 per cent to $153.19 billion, an official data said.
This is the steepest fall in three years mainly due to the demand slowdown in the US and Europe.
During the April-July period of the current fiscal, the country’s shipments have shrunk by 5.06 per cent to $97.6 billion and imports during the period dipped by 6.47 per cent to $153.2 billion.
Commerce Secretary S.R Rao has said the European sovereign debt crisis is impacting the world trade and in the US markets too, demand is not picking up.
“Days coming ahead are tough,” he said.
According to trade experts, it would be difficult to achieve the exports target of $360 billion set up for the current fiscal.
“Going by the trend so far and the continuous degrading global market condition, I have my grave doubts on achieving the exports target of this fiscal,” Director of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) K.T Chaco said.
He added that even market diversification “will alone not help Indian exporters till the major markets are down“.
Last time when exports witnessed such a steep fall was in August 2009. They were down 23.5 per cent then.