India’s merchandise trade deficit in June narrowed to $20.13 billion compared to $22.12 billion in May, data released by the government on Friday showed. In June 2023, India’s merchandise exports amounted to $32.97 billion, while imports stood at $53.10 billion. In the previous month, merchandise exports were $34.98 billion, while imports stood at $57.10 billion.
Compared to a year earlier imports declined 17.48 per cent compared to $64.35 billion a year ago. On the other hand, merchandise exports declined by approximately 22 per cent compared to the same period last year.
As per MoneyControl, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that India’s exports remained weak due to several reasons including a slowdown in the world’s major economies.
“WTO projection of slowdown has come true. A slowdown in major economies of the world where our exports are concentrated, including the US and EU is the prime reason for this,” he said.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry data also showed that services exports in June were $27.12 billion, while imports were $15.88 billion. In May, services exports were $25.30 billion and imports were $13.53 billion.
According to officials from the commerce department, as per MoneyControl, the decline in overall exports was primarily driven by the decrease in exports of oil and gems & jewellery. In terms of absolute value, petroleum products contributed to half of the decline in exports in June 2023 compared to June 2022.
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April-June Period Data Show Trade Deficit Narrowed
During the April-June period of 2023, India witnessed improvements in its overall trade deficit and merchandise trade deficit. The overall trade deficit declined by 28.26 per cent, amounting to $22.59 billion, compared to $31.49 billion in the same period of 2022. The merchandise trade deficit also improved by 7.9 per cent, standing at $57.6 billion in April-June 2023, as opposed to $62.6 billion in April-June 2022, according to government data.
In June 2023, India’s overall exports, including merchandise and services, were estimated to be $60.09 billion, indicating a decline of 13.16 per cent compared to June 2022. Similarly, overall imports in June 2023 were estimated to be $68.98 billion, reflecting negative growth of 13.91 per cent year-on-year.
The electronic goods sector demonstrated significant growth, with exports expanding by 45.4 per cent in June 2023 and 47.1 per cent in April-June 2023 compared to the corresponding periods in the previous year. Iron ore exports also showed a remarkable improvement, with a substantial increase of 1664.3 per cent year-on-year in June 2023 and a 35 per cent rise during April-June 2023 compared to April-June 2022.
Agricultural exports experienced robust growth, particularly in spice exports (18.2 per cent increase), fruits and vegetables exports (14.1 per cent increase), and oil seeds (25.1 per cent increase) and oil meals (33.2 per cent increase) in April-June 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.