India's Exports And Imports Fell Over 8% In February: Government Data The data stated that goods exports declined by 8.8% on yearly basis as compared with 6.58% fall in the previous month
By Teena Jose
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The commerce ministry data revealed that India's exports fell year-on-year (YoY) for the third straight month to $ 33.88 billion in February. According to the ministry, exports of textiles, petroleum products and plastic and linoleum witnessed a massive decline in February because of subdued demand on account of recessionary effects in major economies. The data stated that goods exports declined by 8.8% on a yearly basis as compared with a 6.58% fall in the previous month.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal in a news report was quoted as saying, "The government had been able to contain imports in February. It is not simply statistical. There were several meetings which were taken by the commerce minister Piyush Goyal with various ministries where we looked at strategies to contain non-essential imports. Those steps are bearing fruit."
He further reportedly added that, "The ministries were told to analyse import data and discourage non-essential imports. If there is sufficient capacity [for a product] within the country and it is still being imported, we are trying to educate that it can be substituted by domestically manufactured products. But of course, it will depend on the requirements of global value chains. We have decided on a principle. We are not looking at particular commodities."
Sequentially, the merchandise exports have increased as they stood at $32.91 billion in January and regarding the April-February period of this fiscal, the overall merchandise exports surged 7.5% to $405.94 billion. Also, imports during the same period increased by 18.82% to $653.47 billion, the data showed.
Under merchandise imports, 16 of the 30 key sectors witnessed contraction in February that majorly led by gold (-44.9%), fertilisers (-59.3%), and crude oil (-4.27%) whereas merchandise exports witnessed annual contraction in 16 of the 30 key sectors last month that include chemicals (-12.34%), engineering goods (-9.68%), readymade garments (-12.1%), petroleum products (-28.8%).
