The Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry’s data showed that India’s trade deficit in goods widened to $6.28 billion in May from $3.15 billion during the same period a year earlier.
Merchandise exports rose 69.35% in May from a year earlier to $32.27 billion, driven by healthy growth in sectors such as engineering, petroleum products and gems and jewellery, while imports were up 73.64% to $38.55 billion, the government data showed.
The country’s s overall exports — Merchandise and Services combined — in April-May 2021 are estimated to be $98.29 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 56.94% over the same period last year, the ministry said.
Overall imports in April-May 2021 are estimated to be $104.14 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 77.82% over the same period last year.
The largest part of the import bill – petroleum and crude oil – stood at $9.45 billion, down from $10.87 billion and $ 10.27 billion worth of imports in the previous two months. In the latest month, gold imports fell to $0.67 billion.
Prahalathan Iyer, Chief General Manager, Research & Analysis, India Exim Bank, said: “India’s exports for the period Apr-May 2021 outperformed the level of exports witnessed during the corresponding period of not only the 2020, but also that of 2019 (April – May). In fact, the April-May 2021 exports have grown 12.2% over the export level of Apr-May 2019.”
“On the other hand, though the imports in Apr-May 2021 have grown by 114% over the corresponding value for the previous year, in absolute terms it is lower than the import of USD 86.75 bn witnessed during Apr-May 2019. This could be attributed to the lockdown restrictions in many parts of the country, and low consumer demand,” he added.
