India's exports up 10.29% in August; trade deficit widens to $11.64 billion

New Delhi: India's exports grew by 10.29 percent on a yearly basis to USD 23.81 billion in August on account of rise in shipments of engineering, petroleum, chemicals and pharmaceuticals products, official data released on Friday showed.

Imports too rose by 21.02 percent to USD 35.46 billion in August from USD 29.30 billion in the year-ago month due to rise in inward shipments of crude oil and gold, according to the data released by the commerce ministry.

The trade deficit in the month widened to USD 11.64 billion from USD 7.7 billion during the same month a year ago.

Gold imports increased by 68.90 percent to USD 1.88 billion in August against USD 1.11 billion in the same month last year.

Oil imports was valued at USD 7.75 billion in August, an increase of 14.22 percent over the same month in 2016.

Cumulative exports during April-August of 2017-18 rose by 8.57 percent to USD 118.57 billion while imports increased by 26.63 percent to USD 181.71 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 63.14 billion.