India’s goods exports in June 2021 increased 48.34 per cent (year-on-year) to $32.50 billion propelled by sectors such as petroleum products, gems & jewellery, engineering goods, meat products, garments, chemicals and electronic goods.

Imports in June posted a steep increase of 98.31 per cent to $41.87 billion mostly due to a rise in inflow of petroleum, chemicals, gold and precious and semi-precious stones. This lead to a trade deficit of $9.37 billion compared to a deficit of $0.79 billion in June 2020, as per quick estimates released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

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In the April-June 2021 period, cumulative value of exports was $95.39 billion, the highest ever merchandise exports in a quarter, posting an increase of 85.88 per cent (year-on-year). However, much of the increase was due to the steep 173.8 per cent rise in export of petroleum products to $12.97 billion and 244.29 per cent rise in export of gems & jewellery to $9.17 billion in the first quarter of the fiscal.

Growth in non-petroleum, and non-gems and jewellery exports in April-June 2021, therefore, was a more modest 66.79 per cent, at $73.24 billion. In June 2021, growth in non-petroleum, and non-gems and jewellery exports were valued at $25.65 billion, posting a growth of 38.84 per cent.

Positive signs

“The stellar performance of exports in the first quarter of FY2022 reassures economic recovery in India’s export markets and the potential of India in rising to the occasion. The cumulative export of $95.3 billion in the first three months confirms that the $400 billion target set by the Union government is realisable for FY2022,” said Prahalathan Iyer, Chief General Manager, Research & Analysis, India Exim Bank.

The government is likely to unveil the FTP soon addressing the concerns of exporters, especially that of the laggard sectors to boost their export performance, he added.

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“With decline in daily cases of Covid-19 infection and resumption of economic activities, India could now achieve an all-time high export figures for the financial year,” according to A Sakthivel from FIEO. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-June 2021 was $126.15 billion registering a growth of 108.72 per cent, as per the release.

Oil imports in June 2021 were $10.68 billion which was 116.51 percent higher, while in the April-June 2021 period, oil imports posted a 137 per cent growth to $31 billion.

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“In this connection, it is mentioned that the global Brent price ($/bbl) has increased by 83 per cent in June 2021 vis-à-vis June 2020 as per data available from World Bank,” the release stated.

Non-oil and non-gold imports increased 94.07 per cent in June 2021 at $30.23 billion while in the April-June 2021 period, such imports posted a 86.96 per cent growth to $87.26 billion.

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