India’s Trade Basket Expands To $800 Bn In First Half Of 2023: GTRI

New Delhi, Aug 22 (KNN) India’s total foreign trade has crossed the USD 800 billion mark during the first half of 2023, despite a slowdown in global demand, think tank GTRI said in a report on Monday.

This has been achieved with the healthy growth in India’s services segments, as per the report.

According to the analysis of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), exports of goods and services rose by 1.5% to USD 385.4 billion during January-June this year, as against USD 379.5 billion in January-June 2022.

Imports, however, dipped by 5.9% to USD 415.5 billion during the six months of this year, as against USD 441.7 billion in January-June 2022.

“India’s foreign trade (exports and imports of merchandise and services) reached USD 800.9 billion during January-June 2023, exhibiting a decline of 2.5% over the same period last year (January-June 2022),” the report said.

Standalone, goods exports dipped by 8.1% to USD 218.7 billion, while imports contracted by 8.3% to USD 325.7 billion.

On the other hand, services exports during the six months period grew by 17.7% to USD 166.7 billion, while imports rose by 3.7% to USD 89.8 billion.

“Data is showing modest decline due to weak global demand and losing competitiveness in labour intensive sectors. The decline in merchandise exports happened despite appreciating INR (Indian Rupee). INR/USD exchange rate appreciated from 76.16 in April 2022 to 82.18 in Apr 2023,” GTRI Co-founder Ajay Srivastava said.

He said the world trade outlook for 2023 is weak due to a number of factors, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, high inflation, tighter monetary policy, and financial uncertainty.

“But these factors will soon be overshadowed by a spate of new subsidies and protectionist measures by the EU and USA. For example, in the first seven months of 2023 alone, the EU has introduced five regulations on climate change and trade, each of these are essentially measures to curb imports,” he said.

India should continue to focus on increasing product quality and supply chain competitiveness, he said, adding since every big country is into inward mode, India should not surrender its policy space especially in new issues in FTAs (free trade agreements) and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

He suggested the government be ready to use targeted and precise retaliation to counter unilateral policy decisions like CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism) or EU Deforestation Regulation.  (KNN Bureau)