June Export Growth Slows Down To 14%

Hit hard by the appreciating rupee, India''s export growth is tapering off and stood at 14.05 per cent in June 2007, considerably down from the 23.06 per cent growth rate at the start of the fiscal in April.The export growth rate was down in May at 18.07 per cent, slowing further to 14.06 per cent in June, when exports stood at $11.87 billion against $10.40 billion in the year-ago period.

This has brought down the overall increase in exports in the first quarter of April-June to 18.11 per cent, which is much below the 28 per cent growth targeted for the current financial year. In 2007-08, the government has targeted exports of $160 billion against $125 billion in the previous fiscal.

Impact in July

Exports for the April-June period grew by 18.11 per cent to $34.3 billion compared to $29 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. Imports during June grew 36.68 per cent to $19.19 billion compared to $14.04 billion in the same month in 2006.

For the April-June period of 2007-08, imports stood at $54.9 billion, a growth of 34.3 per cent from $40.8 billion in the year ago period.

India''s trade deficit for June 2007 has more than doubled to $7.3 billion from $3.6 billion in the same month of 2006. Trade deficit for April-June widened to $20.60 billion from $11.84 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2006-07.

Oil imports during June stood at $5.66 billion, up 9.85 per cent from the $5.15 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal. For April-June 2007, oil imports were valued at $14.83 billion, up 4.21 per cent from the corresponding period last fiscal.Non-oil imports during the month are valued at $13.53 billion, which is 52.25 per cent higher than the $8.88 billion imports in June 2006. During the quarter, non-oil imports grew 50.36 per cent to $40.07 billion.