Exports see 4 per cent growth in January

New Delhi: Exports grew by 4 per cent in January despite concerns that demonetisation and global turmoil could impact country’s external trade.

Exports in January hit $22.11 billion mainly due to increase in shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods and iron ore. However trade deficit widened to $9.84 billion as imports widened to $31.95 billion in January, up 10.7 per cent from the same month last fiscal.

Trade deficit was at $7.66 billion in January last year. However, gold imports slipped by 29.94 per cent to $ 2.04 billion in January from $ 2.91 billion in the same month last year as demand declined following cash crunch post demonetisation. Exports had grown by 5.72 per cent in December.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations president  S.C. Ralhan said that while continuous positive growth in exports for last 5 months is encouraging, the slowdown in global trade is equally affecting us. He said that going by the current trend, “we are expected to reach around $270 billion this fiscal.”

Mr Ralhan said that India’s export growth is in tandem with global trade growth which is expected to be around 1.7 per cent in 2016. However, he said that increasing protectionism, volatility in currencies and uncertainties clouding over global economy pose major challenges.

Aditi Nayar said that growth of merchandise exports received a boost from the near-doubling of crude oil prices.