Trade deficit in Jan touches USD 17.75 bn, exports down by 6.58%

New Delhi, Feb 15 (KNN) India’s exports dipped by 6.58 per cent to USD 32.91 billion in January as against USD 35.23 billion in the same month last year, according to the ministry of commerce data released on Wednesday.

The Trade deficit in January stood at USD 17.75 billion, it said.

The imports from India also declined by 3.63 per cent to USD 50.66 billion in January when compared to the same period last year. In 2022, the imports had stood at USD 52.57 billion.

During April-January this fiscal, the country’s merchandise exports rose by 8.51 per cent to USD 369.25 billion.

Imports during the period increased by 21.89 per cent to USD 602.20 billion.

Among key exports during this period, petroleum products, electronic goods and chemicals continued to be higher than a year ago but weaker global demand resulted in a drop in outbound shipments of cotton, engineering goods, iron ore, and gems and jewellery.

Within imports, petroleum and crude products saw the sharpest increase with a more than 53 per cent jump, followed by coal and electronic goods. However, imports of gold were down over 11 per cent.  (KNN Bureau)