The impact of global meltdown has hit the Indian market sternly as this year in March India has registered a record fall in exports and imports.
According to official data of commerce ministry, India’s export in March recorded its worst fall in last 14 years by registering 33.3% drop in dollar terms to $11.52 billion from $17.25-billion in March 2008. In rupee terms, exports stood at Rs. 58,997 crore in March 2009, which was 15.3 per cent lower than the value of exports during the same month in the previous year.
In import, India witnessed a 14% drop reflecting slowdown at home in March registering a decline of 34% to $15.61 billion as against $23.57 billion of goods imported in March 2008.
However, in whole fiscal year, India succeeded to achieve growth in imports by marking 14.3% growth in dollor terms and 29% in rupee terms to $287.76 billion (Rs. 13,05,503 crore) as against FY08’s $251.65 billion (Rs. 10,12,312 crore).
Similarly, in export for the whole fiscal year, India gained a mere 3.4% annual growth on the back of robust 30% growth in the first half of 2008-09. The cumulative value of exports for the entire FY09 was $168.70 billion (Rs. 7,66,935 crore) as against FY08’s $163.13 billion (Rs. 6,55,863 crore).
The continued contraction in shipments for six months in a row wiped out most of the earlier gains, commented G K Pillai, commerce secretary, but he expressed hope that India would recover the export sector by September this year.
The contraction of demands in United States and Europe had not only hit the global market but Indian market too, as analysts believe. They also hope that due to global turmoil the global trade may remain sluggish this year too and can shrink by 8-9% annually.
Despite the steep fall in the exports, India has registered a decline in trade deficit – the excess of imports over exports – in March to $4.04 billion from $6.3 billion.
Since the last 40 years, India’s share in global trade was hovering around 1% of the global trade which is not boosting while India has gained massive growth during the same period. This is because, India’s export policy is very sophisticated and costlier that fails to boost the exporters to go on massively.
They have urged the government to modify the export policy and bring down the higher transaction costs in the favour of exporters.
In oil imports, India recorded a sharp trimming of 58.1% to $3.8-billion in March 09. However, in the entire FY 09, oil imports grew up to 16.9% to $93.18-billion in comparison to FY 08.
In non-oil imports, India marked a decline of 18.92% to $11.76 billion in March 2009, which was $14.49 billion in March 2008; while in FY 09, it was 13.2% higher to 194.58-billion from such imports in 2007-08.
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