India's foreign trade crosses $800 bn mark in first six months of 2023: GTRI

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

India's services segments has helped the country's total exports and imports of goods and services to cross 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. According to the analysis of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), exports of goods and services rose by 1.5 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent over the same period last year (January-June 2022),» the report said. Standalone, goods exports dipped by 8.1 per cent to USD 218.7 billion, while imports contracted by 8.3 per cent to USD 325.7 billion. On the other hand, services exports during the six months period grew by 17.7 per cent to USD 166.7 billion, while imports rose by 3.7 per cent 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.