After contracting for six months in a row, the country's exports grew by 5.27% year-on-year to $27.4 billion in September, while imports slipped by 19.6% to $30.31 billion, according to the commerce ministry data released on Friday.
The trade deficit during the month under review narrowed to $2.91 billion as against $11.67 billion in the same period of 2019. The exports in September last year stood at $26.02 billion.
Exports during April-September this fiscal dipped by 21.43% to $125.06 billion. Imports during the period stood at $148.69 billion, recording a negative growth of 40.06%.
Commodities that registered positive growth in exports in September include iron ore (109.52%), rice (92.44%), oil meals (43.9%), carpet (42.89%), pharmaceuticals (24.36%), Meat, dairy and poultry products (19.96%), Cotton yarn/fabrics/madeups, handloom products (14.82%), Tobacco (11.09%), Spices (10.07%), petroleum products (4.17%), Engineering goods (3.73%), chemicals (2.87%), and coffee (0.79%).
The ministry said that in September 2020, oil imports fell 35.92% to $5.82 billion. During April-September 2020-21, it contracted 51.14% to $31.85 billion.
Non-oil imports in September too declined by 14.41% to $24.48 billion. The imports during the first half of the current fiscal declined 36.12% to $116.83 billion, the preliminary data showed.
Gold imports dipped by 52.85% during September this year.
Since March, the exports were recording negative growth due to COVID-19 pandemic and sluggish global demand.
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