New Delhi, Sep 10 (KNN)  India's merchandise exports which have large contribution from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) went up by a healthy 12.9 per cent in August this year over the same period last year.

On the other hand, imports dropped by 0.68 per cent, leading to a decline in the trade deficit to USD 10.91 billion in August from USD 12.26 billion in the previous month.

Cumulatively for April-August period, exports aggregated to USD 124.42 billion and imports to USD 197.79 billion leaving a trade deficit of USD 73.6 billion which is lower than USD 74.67 billion in the same period last year.

Thanks to the lowering of trade deficit, India’s worries on the current account deficit (CAD) would recede to some extent.

The trade data also has positive effect on the financial market where rupee regained and closed the day at 64.10 per dollar.

Export data reflects initial signs of turnaround in the economy and the MSME sector can also hope for better days if the trend continues during the subsequent months.

Commenting on the trade data, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel said that in the last four months garment exports were growing at about 11 per cent.

“To keep the momentum of growth rolling, it is important that the manufacturing sector starts picking up fast as this is an employment critical sector,” he said.   (KNN/GUNJ)