Exports surge 42.33 pc to USD 35.47 bn in Oct

The exports stood at USD 24.92 billion in October 2020 and USD 26.23 billion in October 2019. 

“India’s merchandise exports in October 2021 was USD 35.47 billion, an increase of 42.33 per cent over USD 24.92 billion in October 2020 and an increase of 35.21 per cent over USD 26.23 billion in October 2019,” as per an official statement. 

The merchandise imports surged 62.49 per cent to USD 55.37 billion from USD 34.07 billion in October 2020. It was USD 37.99 billion in October 2019. 

As per the data, the trade deficit in October 2021 was USD 19.9 billion as gold imports almost doubled to USD 5.1 billion. The gap between imports and exports have totalled USD 98.71 billion during April-October 2021. Outward shipments of engineering goods, which accounted for 28.19 per cent of total exports in October, increased 50.7 per cent year-on-year to USD 9.38 billion. 

Exports of petroleum products too were up 231.63 per cent on annual basis at USD 5.19 billion. Another major chunk of exports, which comes from the gems and jewellery sector, rose 44.24 per cent to USD 4.22 billion. Exports from the labour-intensive textiles sector, which accounts for 3.5 per cent of the total outward shipments, increased by 6.4 per cent to USD 1.25 billion in October. 

India also exported electronic goods worth USD 1.34 billion during the month under review against USD 966 million in October 2020. On the import front, the inbound shipments of 'petroleum, crude and products' soared 140.5 per cent to USD 14.43 billion from USD 6 billion in October 2020. Import of electronic goods stood at USD 6.81 billion (up 23 per cent) and machinery, electrical and non-electrical segment stood at USD 3.54 billion (up 41.78 per cent). 

As per the provisional data, imports of 'coal, coke and briquettes' increased 118.92 per cent in October this year to USD 3.31 billion. The updated trade data will be released later in the month. 

The gold imports stood at USD 5.1 billion this October compared to USD 2.49 billion in the year-ago month, an increase of 104.25 per cent. The vegetable oil imports were valued at USD 1.62 billion during October 2021, up 59.59 per cent on a year-on-year basis. India's merchandise exports in April-October 2021 was USD 232.58 billion, a rise of 54.51 per cent over USD 150.53 billion in the year-ago period. It was USD 185.4 billion in April-October 2019. 

During April-October 2021, the imports were USD 331.29 billion, an increase of 78.71 per cent over USD 185.38 billion in the corresponding period of last year. It also shows a rise of 15.81 per cent over USD 286.07 billion in April-October 2019. 

The value of non-petroleum exports in October 2021 was 30.27 USD billion, registering a positive growth of 29.63 per cent over non-petroleum exports of USD 23.35 billion in the year-ago month. 

Also, the value of non-petroleum imports was USD 40.94 billion, a growth of 45.82 per cent over USD 28.07 billion in October 2020. Meanwhile, data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed exports of services stood at USD 20.68 billion during September, registering a growth of 22 per cent over the corresponding month of the previous fiscal. 

Services imports were valued at USD 12.21 billion during September 2021, up 25 per cent over the same month of last year.