Country's trade deficit shows improvement: DGFT
India's trade deficit is showing signs of improvement, a parliamentary panel was told on Friday. "Trade deficit for merchandise and services together was USD 130.7 billion in 2012-13. It improved to USD 68.5 billion in 2014-15," director general, foreign trade (DGFT) Anup Wadhawan told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee (commerce) which had met in Panaji to review the country's trade performance. He also informed that exports during April-September period decreased by 17.6 percent along with imports which decreased by 14.2 percent. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also attended the meeting, said that Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-2020 had a sharper focus recognising that in the present scenario of global slowdown, reducing demand and falling commodity prices, the FTP has to be more vibrant and capitalise on the traditional strength of Indian economy. She said that the FTP has been formulated with a long term focus and the ministry would think on any changes only after around two and half years. "The Policy has provided a direction so that India should not be just an exporter of raw material but should have presence in the world's markets in value added services," she said. Source: SME Times