India today said it expects exports, which have witnessed contraction for two consecutive months, to turnaround by September-end.
“We are seriously monitoring the situation. I think with the steps which have been taken and with the announcements, there will be some revival in exports and turnaround this autumn (around September),” Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here.
Sharma is on a three-day visit (Aug 3-5) to Sri Lanka to attend the India Show and a CEO forum meeting.
Hit by slowdown in the Western markets, India’s export growth declined 5.45 per cent in June to $25 billion.
Besides reflecting slowdown in the domestic economy, imports too dipped sharply by 13.46 per cent to $35.37 billion from $40.8 billion in June 2011, resulting in a narrower trade deficit of $10.3 billion for the month.
The decline in the country’s shipments comes amid India’s economic growth slipping to a 9-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12, and subdued industrial output in the first two months of the current fiscal. Markets in the Euro Zone, the US, China and Japan are still not showing healthy growth.
“There is a contraction in demand in the tradition market and there is wobbly recovery in the EU. We have been able to survive because of diversification of market,” Sharma said.
According to the data released by the Commerce Ministry, exports during the April-June quarter of 2012-13 fiscal dipped 1.7 per cent to $75.2 billion from $76.5 billion in the same period last fiscal.
Imports during the first quarter of this fiscal dipped 6.1 per cent to $115.25 billion from $122.74 billion in the April-June period of last fiscal. Trade deficit during the quarter stood at $40 billion.