India’s overall exports decline 13 pc in June

New Delhi: India’s overall exports, both merchandise and services combined, in June 2023 are estimated to be USD 60.09 billion, registering a decline of around 13 per cent from June 2022, official commerce ministry data revealed on Friday. In June 2022, the exports were USD 69.20 billion.

Overall imports in June 2023 are estimated to be USD 68.98 billion, down about 14 per cent from 2022 figures of USD 80.12 billion.

In June, however, the trade balance, meaning the difference between exports and imports, narrowed from USD 10.92 billion to USD 8.89 billion.

India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in April-June 2023 quarter is estimated to exhibit a 7.29 per cent decline over April-June 2022 at USD 182.70 billion.

Overall imports in April-June 2023 are estimated to decline by 10.18 per cent over April-June 2022 at USD 205.29 billion.

The trade deficit in April-June 2023-24 period too narrowed from USD 31.49 billion to USD 22.59 billion, data showed.

After witnessing high growth in 2022-23, India’s trade performance has shown declining trends compared to the high base of last year in the backdrop of global slowdown, the commerce ministry said.

“Post Covid calendar year 2022 globally there was lots of inventory built up which fueled high trade growth. It will take some time to come down inventory (which is already being) built up. Now Orders are starting to pick up from July, it happens that will be good for us. (However) the trade sector is completely in the hands of global factors,” commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said.

Quoting the World Bank Global Economic Prospects report (June 2023), the commerce ministry said the global economy is set to slow substantially in 2023, to 2.1 per cent, after growing at 3.1 per cent last year.

India’s overall exports in the March ending the financial year 2022-2023 were worth USD 775.87 billion, a growth of over 14 per cent and almost USD 100 billion more than last year’s figures.

In 2022-23, India’s merchandise and services exports rose 6.74 per cent and 27.86 per cent to USD 450.43 billion and USD 325.44 billion, respectively.

Among various steps the government took was to launch a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in varied sectors, including electronic goods, to make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investments, enhance exports, integrate India into the global supply chain and reduce dependency on imports. These seemed to have reaped dividends.