India’s exports rise faster than imports in September

NEW DELHI: India’s external trade turned positive, perhaps for the first time, with growth in exports surpassing that of imports for the first time, in September 2017, bringing festive cheer for exporters and policy-makers. Merchandise exports from the country moved to a higher growth trajectory of 25.67 per cent with September exports reaching $28.61 billion, helped by better performance by all the top 10 commodity groups, ranging from engineering items to textiles. Although exports have been in the positive zone for the past 13 month, it is for the first time that growth in exports surpassed that of imports. The trade deficit, too, narrowed in September by 0.95 per cent to $8.98 billion against 9.07 billion in September last year, but the overall trade deficit during the April-September 2017-18 period stood at $72.13 billion. Cumulative exports during April-September 2017-18 stood at $147.19 billion against cumulative imports of $219.32 billion, leaving a gap of $72.13 billion.
Import growth rate was slightly lower than export growth, with gold imports declining by 5 per cent. Imports into the country increased 18.09 per cent in September 2017 to $37.59 billion, according to an official data released on Friday. Imports during September 2017 were valued at $37.60 billion (Rs242,282.96 crore) which was 18.09 per cent higher in dollar terms and 14.02 per cent higher in rupee terms over the level of imports valued at $31.84 billion (Rs212,486.28 crore) in September 2016. Cumulative value of imports for April-September 2017-18 stood at $219.32 billion (Rs141,1872.70 crore) against $175.34 billion (Rs1,173,664.70 crore), recording a positive growth of 25.08 per cent in dollar terms and 20.30 per cent in rupee terms over the same period last year. Exports during September 2017 were valued at $28.61 billion (Rs. 184387.36 crore ), showing a growth of 25.67 per cent in dollar terms and 21.35 per cent in rupee terms compared to exports valued at $22.77 billion (Rs151,950.74 crore) in September 2016. Apart from engineering goods exports, which posted a sharp increase of 44 per cent during the month to $7.32 billion, other sectors that registered growth included gems and jewellery, petro products, organic and inorganic chemicals, readymade garments, drugs and pharmaceuticals, cotton yarn/fabs/made-ups, handloom products, marine products, rice and electronic goods. Oil imports, at $8.18 billion were 18.4 per cent higher than in September 2016. Non-oil imports, at $29.40 billion, were 17.9 per cent higher. Gold imports came in at $ 1.71 billion.

India Exports Imports

Exports will get 5 per cent of global pie with special efforts: Economic Survey

NEW DELHI: Rationalising tariffs, phasing out some export promotion schemes and having “useful” free trade agreements with some major countries will help India gain a “respectable share” in world exports, the second volume of the Economic Survey released on Friday said.

India's rising trade deficit and protectionist tendencies on the global front are areas to watch for in the short term, it said as India’s share in global exports has stagnated at 1.7 % from 2011 to 2016 with intermittent drops to 1.6%.

Citing rising protectionism, trade restrictive measures and risk of a backlash against movement of persons adding to a situation that is of growing concern, the survey said special efforts are needed to take India’s exports to a respectable share of at least 5% in world exports from 1.7% in 2016, which is very low compared to China’s 13.2%.

Streamlining export promotion schemes as many duties have been subsumed under GST, demand-based export basket diversification rather than a mere supply-based strategy and developing world-class export infrastructure and logistics on a war footing, are some recommendations of chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian-authored survey.

It also said the focus should be on increasing FDI-linked and value-added exports, particularly high-tech exports as in China and some Asean countries.
Referring to the rise of anti-globalisation sentiment in recent years, the survey said such tendencies have surfaced with developments in the US during and after elections and the Brexit referendum.
People are viewing trade, immigration and multilateral engagements with some amount of scepticism and becoming wary of benefits of globalisation, it said. On trade curbs, the survey said there has been a rise in recent years of such steps including several types of non-tariff barriers.


GREEN SHOOTS VISIBLE 
The survey did contain some cheer for the export sector, saying that green shoots have started to appear on the trade horizon with world trade growth projected at 3.8% and 3.9% in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and India’s trade growth also picking up.
“With the green shoots slowly becoming visible in merchandise trade, and robust capital flows, the external position appears robust, reflected inter alia in rising reserves and a strengthening exchange rate," the Economic Survey said.
Reflecting the slowly improving world economic situation, India’s exports turned positive at 12.3% in FY17 after an interval of two years.

Reflecting the slowly improving world economic situation, India’s exports turned positive at 12.3% in FY17 after an interval of two years.
In FY17, services exports recorded growth of 5.7% with a pickup in some major sectors such as transportation, business services and financial services along with good growth in travel. However, as per the survey, software services exports, accounting for around 45.2% of total services, declined marginally by 0.7%.