New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) Despite geo-political uncertainties and economic slowdown in some of the major advanced economies, India’s merchandise exports logged 3.1% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth at US$36.92 billion in January 2024.
Main drivers of merchandise export growth in January this year included petroleum products, engineering goods, iron ore, electronic goods and drugs & pharmaceuticals among others.
Merchandise exports in January 2023 were valued at US$35.80 billion.
Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in January 2024 were US$26.12 billion, compared to US$25.48 billion in January 2023.
Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in January 2024 were US$33.72 billion, compared to US$34.51 billion in January 2023.
As per data released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s total merchandise imports in January 2024 were US$54.41 billion as against US$52.83 billion in January 2023.
Merchandise trade deficit in January 2024 stood at US$17.49 billion.
The official data showed merchandise exports for the period April-January 2023-24 were US$ 353.92 billion as against US$ 372.10 billion during April-January 2022-23. Merchandise imports for the period April-January 2023-24 were US$ 561.12 billion as against US$ 601.47 billion during April-January 2022-23.
The estimated value of services export for January 2024 is US$32.80 billion, as compared to US$28.00 billion in January 2023.
India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in April-January 2023-24 are estimated to be US$ 638.37 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 0.19% over April-January 2022-23. Overall imports in April-January 2023-24 are estimated to be US$ 708.79 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 5.69% over April-January 2022-23.
“The estimated value of services export for April-January 2023-24 is US$ 284.45 billion as compared to US$ 267.50 billion in April-January 2022-23,” Commerce Ministry said in its release on trade data.
As many as 18 of the 30 key merchandise exports sectors exhibited positive growth in January 2024 as compared to the same period last year (January 2023). These include iron ore (109.79%), tobacco (47.32%), meat, dairy & poultry products (26.12%), spices (20.5%), cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items (18.69%), oil meals (14.66%), petroleum products (6.57%), coffee (5.53%), and engineering goods (4.2%) among others.
“India’s trade deficit has shown considerable improvement in April-January 2023-24. Overall trade deficit for April-January 2023-24 is estimated at US$70.43 billion as compared to the deficit of US$111.99 billion during April-January 2022-23, registering a decline of (-) 37.11%,” Commerce Ministry said.
