Exports grow by 17.86% in October

India’s exports rose by 17.86% to $26.98 billion in October mainly due to the low base effect even as trade deficit widened to $17.13 billion, according to the commerce ministry data.

The exports on monthly basis were down compared to $27.95 billion in September.

Imports during October also rose by 17.62% to $44.11 billion, leading to widening of trade deficit to $17.13 billion.

The deficit widened despite a steep decline of 42.9% in gold imports to $1.68 billion during the month under review.

The trade gap was $14.61 billion in October 2017. Exporters attributed close to 18% growth in exports in October to a favourable base effect, as the foreign shipments in the comparable month of the previous fiscal were quite low at $ 22.89 billion.

Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) said that high growth in October has come about on the back of a favourable base effect.

The sectors which recorded healthy growth in October includes petroleum (49.3%), engineering (8.87%), chemicals (34%), pharma (13%), and gems and jewellery sector (5.5%). On the other hand, exports of several agri commodities recorded negative growth and that includes coffee, rice, tobacco, cashew and oil seeds.

During the April-October period of the current fiscal, exports grew by 13.27% to $191 billion. Imports were up by 16.37% to $302.47 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $111.46 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal. It was $91.28 billion in April-October 2017-18.

Oil imports in October increased by 52.64% to $14.21 billion. The non-oil imports rose by 6% to $29.9 billion in the month.

Services exports grew by over 19% to $16.38 billion in September, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Thursday.