India gets off to a great start in FY 23 with record exports in the month of April. The country achieved a monthly value of merchandise export of USD 38.19 billion, an increase of 24.22% over USD 30.75 billion in April 2021.
This has been a continuing trend considering India had surpassed its merchandise export in March also, registering a growth of 14.5 per cent over the same month in 2021. However the imports also recorded a faster growth in April, further widening India’s trade deficit.
Exports in April
The government on May 3 said that it was on the heels of petroleum goods, electronic goods and chemicals that the merchandise exports registered record growth. The export of petroleum products saw a 113.2 percent jump to USD 7.73 billion, whereas electronic goods and chemicals grew 64.04 and 26.71 percent respectively.
Engineering goods exports rose 15.4 percent to USD 9.2 billion. Gems and jewellery exports dipped 2.1 percent to USD 3.3 billion. Overall, the value of non-petroleum exports in April 2022 was 30.46 USD billion, registering a positive growth of 12.32 percent over non-petroleum exports of USD 27.12 billion in April 2021.
Trade deficit widens
India’s merchandise import in April 2022 was USD 58.26 billion, an increase of 26.55% over USD 46.04 billion in April 2021. As imports showed around two percent higher than exports, it furthered the trade deficit to USD 20.07 billion in April 2022. This is an increase of 31.23 per cent over $15.29 billion in April last year.
Value of non-petroleum imports was USD 38.75 billion in April 2022 with a positive growth of 9.87% over non-petroleum imports of USD 35.27 billion in April 2021. The import of petroleum, crude & associated products which constituted 33.48 percent of the import basket, grew 81.2 percent from April 2021 level.
Value of non-oil, non-GJ (gold, silver & Precious metals) imports was USD 34.43 billion in April 2022 with a positive growth of 29.68% over non-oil and non-GJ imports of USD 26.55 billion in April 2021.
Record exports in 2021-22
India had overperformed 5 percent on the target set by the government and had reached a record USD 418 billion in 2021-22, registering a 40 per cent growth over the previous year. The growth was led by petroleum products with an annual growth of 151 percent.
The US continued to remain the top export destination for India in FY22, while the UAE regained the second spot. The exports of cotton yarn, fabrics, gems, jewellery, engineering goods and electronics also grew between 40 to 50 percent.
