India's March merchandise exports rise over 19%, imports 24%

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) India's March 2022 merchandise exports rose to $42.22 billion, higher by 19.76 per cent on a year-on-year basis, official data showed on Tuesday.

Exports during March 2021 stood at $35.26 billion.

"Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in March 2022 were $30.67 billion, registering a positive growth of 9.4 per cent over non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports of $28.03 billion in March 2021 and a positive growth of 80.90 per cent over non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports of $16.95 billion in March 2020," the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

Similarly, India's merchandise imports in March 2022 increased by 24.21 per cent over last year to $60.74 billion from $48.90 billion.

"Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $37.35 billion in March 2022 with a positive growth of 35.44 per cent over non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery imports of $27.58 billion in March 2021 and a positive growth of 99.77 per cent over non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery imports of $18.70 billion in March 2020."

The trade deficit widened by 35.72 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $18.51 billion in March 2022 from $13.64 billion in the like period of 2021.

"Both non-oil exports and non-oil non-gold imports recorded their FY2022 high in March 2022. However, the pace of growth of non-oil exports marked an FY2022 low of 8.9 per cent in March 2022, whereas non-oil non-gold imports expanded by a massive 76.1 per cent in YoY terms on a subdued base," ICRA's Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said.

"The non-gold trade deficit widened multifold to $17.5 billion in March 2022 from $5.1 billion in March 2021, driven by petroleum products, coal and electronic goods, partly driven by the spike in commodity prices following the Russia-Ukraine conflict."

In terms of full fiscal year, the data showed that India's FY22 merchandise exports rose to $419.65 billion, higher by 43.81 per cent on a year-on-year basis from $291.81 billion reported for the previous fiscal.

Besides, the data showed that FY22 merchandise imports increased by 55.13 per cent over last year to $611.89 billion from $394.44 billion in FY21.

The trade deficit for FY22 widened by 87.32 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $192.24 billion from $102.63 billion in the previous fiscal.

FIEO President A. Sakthivel said that engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewellery, organic and inorganic chemicals, electronic goods, and agricultural products were amongst the top performing export sectors during FY22.

In addition, he said that India's exports to developed economies including US, Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK, Belgium and Germany saw a quantum jump during the previous fiscal which showcases the increasing strength of manufacturing in exports.