The Hindu Business Line : Exports plunge 33% in March

New Delhi, May 1 Merchandise exports declined 33.22 per cent in March to touch $11.52 billion, the lowest performance in the three months of fourth quarter 2008-09.

This is the sixth month in a row that exports registered a decline.

In January and February, exports stood at $12.38 billion and $11.91 billion respectively, but both were lower than the export performance recorded in the corresponding months of last year.

In fact, the Government had indicated that March exports could range $12-14 billion.

Though the provisional official data released on Friday showed that the March performance was lower than expectations, the Commerce Secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, said there was scope for some upward revision when the final compilation was completed.

“The merchandise exports for 2008-09 may come close to $170 billion when the final figures are compiled,” Mr Pillai told Business Line.

The official data released on Friday showed that merchandise exports grew at only 3.4 per cent in dollar terms for 2008-09 to touch $168.70 billion. It is also the first time in nearly a decade that merchandise exports recorded a single-digit growth.

The export performance for 2008-09 is a tad short of the scaled down target of $170 billion for 2008-09. India had pegged the export target for 2008-09 at $200 billion.

In the first half of 2008-09, exports had recorded a robust 30.9 per cent growth at $94.97 billion.

It is evident that the global financial turmoil, especially after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, has badly dented the country’s merchandise export growth performance in 2008-09.

On the outlook for 2009-10, Mr Pillai said he saw flat or near-zero export growth in the wake of the depressed economic environment in the developed countries. “The 30 per cent kind of growth rate that we saw in the first half of 2008-09 is some years away,” he noted, when asked if he saw recovery in 2009-10.

In rupee terms, merchandise exports grew 16.9 per cent in 2008-09 to Rs 7,66,935 crore (Rs 6,55,863 crore). However, for March 2009, exports registered a 15.3 per cent decline to Rs 58,997 crore.

Meanwhile, India’s imports recorded a growth of 14.3 per cent in dollar terms in 2008-09 at $287.76 billion ($251.65 billion). In rupee terms, imports grew 29 per cent at Rs 13,05,503 crore (Rs 10,12,312 crore). Oil imports in fiscal 2008-09 stood at $93.17 billion, reflecting a 16.9 per cent increase over $79.71 billion in the previous year.

Trade deficit in 2008-09 has been estimated at $119.05 billion, much higher than the deficit of $88.52 billion during 2007-08.

Related Stories:
Exports in March seen at $12-14 b: Pillai
Jan exports nosedive 16%; imports slump 18%
Exports growth at 3.6% in ’08-09, but to improve post-Sept’

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