India's exports to cross 750 billion US dollars this year

India's overall exports will cross 750 billion US dollar this year. Last year it was at the level of 676 billion US dollar. Briefing reporters in New Delhi, Commerce Secretary  B V R  Subrahmanyam said,  goods exports is expected to touch 450 billion dollar while exports in service sector will reach 300 billion dollar this year. Giving details of exports data, Subrahmanyam said that  exports in August this year remained flat at  33 billion US dollar. To control inflation and ensure availability of certain products, we have put some restrictions like on wheat, steel and iron ore pellets, and export duties on some goods. All this collectively has led to a certain flattening of exports in these sectors,” the secretary added.While  during the month of April to August, the exports stood at 192 billion dollar up by 17.1 per cent compared to last year. He said, imports in the month of August, 2022 stood at 61.88 billion registering an increase of 37 per cent over the previous year while in the five months of the current fiscal, India's imports were at 318 billion US dollar showing a rise of 45 per cent. He said, coal and petroleum imports are driving the rise in imports but overall rise in imports is a sign of healthy demand in the economy as 25% of country's imports are for consumer items, while 75 per cent are for raw materials.

Trade deficit widened to USD 125.22 billion in April-August this fiscal as against USD 53.78 billion in the same period last year. Oil imports in August jumped by 86.44 per cent to USD 17.6 billion. However, gold imports dipped by 47.54 per cent to USD 3.51 billion, the data showed. Subrahmanyam, however, said the country’s overall exports during 2022-23 would comfortably cross USD 450 billion. “In goods exports, we will be crossing USD 450 billion this fiscal, though my internal target is USD 470 billion. Services exports would reach USD 300 billion. So total will be USD 750 billion this fiscal as against USD 676 billion last fiscal,” Subrahmanyam said. He said that free trade agreements with the UK, UAE and Australia would give a further boost to exports in the coming years. Imports rose by 28 per cent to USD 43.9 billion during the first five months as against USD 34.1 billion during April-August 2021. The import surge reflects the strong demand of the domestic economy due to robust growth and strong fundamentals of the Indian economy, he said. He also informed that the new foreign trade policy will be released before September 30. In value terms, the surge in imports is due to a combination of quantity and price factors.