May exports drop 20.2% as global demand remains lukewarm

New Delhi: Continuing its declining trend, India’s exports shrank by about 20.19 percent in May to $22.34 billion, marking a fall for the sixth straight month.[caption id=“attachment_2297544” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Thinkstock images[/caption] The slump in exports is mainly due to global slowdown, dip in crude oil prices and rupee appreciation. In May 2014, the country’s merchandise exports stood at $27.99 billion. The last time exports registered a positive growth was in November last year when it expanded 7.27 percent. The main exporting sectors, including petroleum products, gems and jewellery, engineering and chemicals reported a negative growth in April. Imports, too, declined 16.52 percent to $32.75 billion. Trade deficit narrowed to $10.4 billion in the month under review compared with $11.23 billion in May 2014, according to data released by the commerce ministry. Oil imports dropped 40.97 percent in May to $8.53 billion. Non-oil imports too came down by 2.24 percent to $24.21 billion. Gold imports, however, grew 10.47 percent to $42.42 billion in May. During April-May 2015, exports fell 17.21 per cent to $44.4 billion. Imports, too, shrank 12.2 percent to $65.8 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $21.39 billion in the first two months of the current fiscal. In March, country’s exports contracted 21 percent, the biggest fall in the last six years. India has missed the annual exports target of $340 billion for 2014-15, Last year, exports stood at $310.5 billion. PTI