Goods exports rise 49.85% to $35.43 billion in July

India’s goods exports touched a high of $35.43 billion in July 2021, posting a 49.85 per cent growth over the same month last year, driven by petroleum products, gems & jewellery and engineering goods.

Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports grew 28.18 per cent to $26.12 billion, indicating that growth was spread across sectors and not restricted to just the two high-value items.

Imports of goods during the month increased 62.99 per cent to $46.40 billion fuelled by petroleum products, gold and pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, according to quick estimates of trade data released by the Commerce & Industry Ministry on Friday. Trade deficit in July widened to $10.97 billion compared to $4.83 billion in the same month last year.

Exports in July 2021 were higher by 35.05 per cent when compared to exports in July 2019 (the year of normal production), a fact highlighted by the Commerce & Industry Ministry to show that improvement in performance this year was not just a factor of the lacklustre performance of exports last year due to Covid-19 disruptions.

“Many labour-intensive sectors were the main contributors, which itself is a good sign, further helping job creation in the country,” pointed out a statement issued by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.

In the April-July 2021 period, exports posted an increase of 74.52 per cent to $130.82 billion compared to the same period last fiscal. As compared to April-July 2019, exports in April-July 2021 grew 22.09 per cent.

Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in April-July 2021 were 54.55 per cent higher at $99.36 billion, compared to the same period last year.

Total value of imports

Total value of imports for the period April-July 2021 stood at $172.55 billion which was 94.08 per cent higher than imports in the same period last fiscal. Trade deficit widened to $41.73 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal compared to $13.95 billion in the comparable period of 2020-21.

While exports increased across wide-ranging sectors in July 2021, there were certain sectors where exports posted a fall include oil seeds, oil meals, meat, dairy & poultry products, tobacco, tea, spices, cashew, iron ore and coffee.

Imports of silver, project goods and newsprint fell in July 2021, as per figures shared by the government.

The high growth in exports in the first five months of the fiscal needs to continue if the country were to reach the target of $400 billion for the year, fixed by the Commerce Ministry.

In the fiscal year April-March 2021, exports declined by 7.26 per cent to $290.63 billion compared to the previous fiscal as Covid-19 disruptions slowed down production and demand worldwide.

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