Goods exports dip 15.9% in July

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Exports shrunk 15.88% in July, while imports declined 17% to $52.92 billion narrowing the trade deficit to $20.67 billion against $25.43 billion in July 2022. It marginally widened compared to $20.13 billion in June. However, the ministry stated that India was more resilient than its peers, despite global headwinds weighing down trade.

«We face better export prospects, and export promotion councils are doing a good job,» said Sunil Barthwal, secretary, ministry of commerce, pointing out that India was expecting the turnaround to come. «We expect to export much more than last year for both goods and services,» Barthwal added, terming services as a «success story.» India targeting of $900 billion in combined exports in FY24, a considerable increase from the $770 billion in the previous year. «On the back of 'friend-shoring,' which would lead to diversification of trade towards political allies and penetration of new markets, we hope the current trend would reverse in coming months,» said Arun Kumar Garodia, chairman, EEPC India Cumulative merchandise exports for the April-July period were down 14.5% to $136.2 billion compared with $159.32 bn in the previous year.

Imports, on the other hand, declined 13.8% during this period. The performance was much better for non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports, as the decline for April-July 2023 was lower at 7.2% compared with the previous year. Electronic goods, especially smartphones, were one of the significant categories that supported India's export performance, rising 37.6% compared with the previous year.