May Exports Jump 56.9% In May
Exports witnessed huge annualised growth of 56.9 per cent to $25.9 billion in May in a bright spot for the Indian economy, which is battling high inflation amid signs of a slowdown.
In the April-May period, exports grew by 45 per cent to $49.7 billion vis-a-vis the same period last year.
Imports, too, increased by 54 per cent to $40.9 billion in May -- the highest growth rate in the last four years -- leaving a trade deficit of $14.9 billion.
In the first two months of the 2011-12 fiscal, imports were up 33.3 per cent to $73.7 billion and the trade gap for the period stood at $23.9 billion, as per data released today.
In fact, the trend of healthy exports even in the previous months helped the country moderate its current account deficit to 2.6 per cent of the GDP in the last fiscal.
"This is a sign of robust scenario... coupled with effective government initiative," exporters' body FIEO President Ramu S Deora said. While the government has not formally set an export target for the current fiscal, $300 billion can be achieved, according to industry estimates.
Exports grew by 37.5 per cent to $246 billion in 2010-11.
While there are signs of a slowdown in overall industrial growth of 6.3 per cent and high inflation of over 9 per cent in May, exporters have put out a sterling performance despite the financial woes in several European economies.
In May this year, crude oil imports grew by 18.57 per cent to $10.1 billion year-on-year, while non-oil imports saw a huge growth of 71 per cent to $30.7 billion during the period under review.
However, the exports in May grew at a lesser pace compared to April. In April, exports grew by 34.4 per cent to $23.9 billion.
Standard Chartered's Head of Research Samiran Chakraborty said, the country's exports are likely to grow between 20-25 per cent in 2011-12 as last fiscal's exports growth of 37.5 per cent was too high and is not sustainable.
Amongst the sectors which registered maximum exports growth in May are engineering 120 per cent, followed by petroleum 75 per cent, ready made garments 51 per cent, man-made yarns and fabrics 50 per cent and electronics 117 per cent.
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