August Exports Grow at 5-Month Low of 2.35 Per Cent; Trade Gap at 4-Month High

New Delhi: Growth rate of India's exports slipped to a five-month low of 2.35 per cent in August at $26.95 billion, pushing the trade deficit to $10.83 billion.

Gold imports jumped significantly to $2.03 billion last month from $738.7 million a year ago.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations attributed the poor performance of exports to the slowdown in European markets.

"The situation in EU is still bad. The exporters are waiting for the new foreign trade policy. We are expecting measures to boost exports," said Rafeeq Ahmed, president of exporters body FIEO.

Trade deficit in August was highest in the last four months. It was $10 billion in April when exports had recorded a low growth of 5.26 per cent.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry data, overall imports grew only 2.08 per cent to $37.79 billion.

Exports in May and June had registered a growth of 12.4 per cent and 10.22 per cent respectively. In July, export growth slipped further to 7.33 per cent.

For the April-August period - the first five months of the current fiscal year, exports have grown 7.31 per cent to $134.79 billion.

Imports, however, have dipped 2.69 per cent to USD 190.94 billion.

Trade deficit during the five months has reached $56.15 billion, lower than $70.6 billion in the year-ago period.

Oil imports declined 14.97 per cent in August to $12.83 billion. However, non-oil imports during the month were up 13.82 per cent at $24.95 billion.