Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: In yet another sign of a firm economic recovery, India’s exports rose 18.2 percent in November to $13.2 billion, the first rise after 13 straight months of fall, data released by the government on Friday showed.
Trade deficit decreased to 9.69 billion during the month under review from $ 12.33 billion in November 2008 on declining imports.
The country’s imports fell 2.6 percent to $22.88 billion in November from $23.48 billion in the corresponding month in 2008.
Imports were valued at $170.43 billion in April-November 2009-10 against $234.35 billion in the first eight months of last fiscal, a contraction of 27.3 percent.
Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar had said last month that exports grew in November, mainly due to the low base effect.
However, during April-November this fiscal, merchandise consignments dropped by 22.3 percent to $104.24 billion compared to $134.2 billion in the year-ago period, according to the official data.
The downfall in exports started in October 2008 due to the global economic slowdown that began after the collapse of the US investment banking giant Lehman Brothers. As most of the advanced economies slipped into recession and faced major reduction in consumer demand, the exports communities in emerging economies including India took a beating.
According to Khullar, the country’s exports will be in the region of $165-170 billion in 2009-10 as compared with $182.6 billion last year.
With Agencies’ Inputs
First Published: Friday, January 01, 2010, 14:17