India’s goods exports decline 8.8% in February

16 Mar 2023 , 03:19 PM

According to Commerce Ministry estimates released on Wednesday, tentative global demand drove India’s goods exports down 8.8% in February to $33.9 billion, while imports fell 8.2% year on year to $51.31 billion. This is the third contraction in merchandise exports in five months, following an 11.6% drop in October 2022 and a 3% drop in December 2022.

In February, the value of outbound shipments fell for as many as 16 of India’s top 30 export items, with 14 of them experiencing double-digit declines. This included a 9.7% drop in engineering exports, which had previously been a pillar of India’s exports.

In February 2023, the merchandise trade deficit decreased by 7% and amounted to $17.43 billion, which is slightly more than January’s deficit of $16.56 billion – the lowest in a year and a half. 

The combined deficit for the first two months of 2023 is significantly lower than the deficit for the whole of 2022, which reached a peak of $29.23 billion in September. This indicates a positive trend towards a reduction in the deficit.

While the government initially predicted a 6.6% drop in January exports, the figure has now been revised upward by around $2.8 billion to $35.76 billion, representing a 1.5% increase over January 2022 levels. 

Exports in February 2023 were 5.25% lower than in January 2023.

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