Exports fell 24.43 per cent in November from the same month a year ago, capping off a year in the red. Total exports stood at $20.01 billion against $26.48 billion in November 2014, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

A significant fall in exports of engineering goods, petroleum products and gems & jewellery weighed heavily on the overall performance. The value of petroleum product exports fell 54 per cent to $2.16 billion; engineering goods by 28.57 per cent to $4.7 billion and gems & jewellery by 21.52 per cent to $2.89 billion.

“The shift in the festive calendar and the lower number of working days in November 2015 appear to have distorted the merchandise export shipment figures for that month, contributing to the widespread contraction across product categories,” said Aditi Nayar, Senior Economist at ICRA. “In our view, the standalone merchandise export data for November should be viewed with caution not alarm.”

The fall in the value of imports has been much sharper at 30.26 per cent, meaning that the trade deficit has narrowed for April-November 2015 to $87.54 billion from $102.5 billion last year.

Imports stood at $29.79 billion in November 2015 ($42.72 billion). Of this, crude oil imports were at $6.43 billion, a year-on-year decline of 45 per cent.

Cumulatively, the value of oil imports has come down 42 per cent to $61.41 billion in April-November 2015-16 ($106.59 billion). Non-oil imports fell 24.7 per cent in November 2015 to $23.35 billion ($31.02 billion).

SC Ralhan, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said the continuous decline in exports for the last 12 months is much worse than the decline during the global slowdown of 2008-09.

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