Exports continue upward march, jump 45% in August

IMPORTS RISE 51% DURING THE MONTH, MERCHANDISE TRADE DEFICIT SURGED 69% ON YEAR TO $14 BN

India's exports jumped 45.17% to USD 33.14 billion in August as against USD 22.83 billion in the same month last year, according to the commerce ministry's provisional data.

The exports during April-August 2021 stood at USD 163.67 billion, an increase of 66.92% over USD 98.05 billion in the same period a year ago, the data showed.

Imports in August rose 51.47% to USD 47.01 billion, as against USD 31.03 billion in the corresponding month of 2020.

Imports during April-August this fiscal rose by 81.75% to USD 219.54 billion.

Consequently, India's merchandise trade deficit surged 69.1% on year to $13.87 bln in August, compared to $ 8.2 billion in the year-ago period.

The surge in exports and imports in August was mainly due to the statistical effect of a low base a year ago

when India was just emerging out of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of

COVID-19.

On a sequential basis, exports were down 6.5% in August, while imports rose 1.3%.

Besides, the data furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that in comparison to August 2019, last month's exports rose by 27.5%. "Value of non-petroleum exports in August 2021 was $28.58 billion, registering a positive growth of 36.57% over non-petroleum exports of $20.93 billion in August 2020 and a positive growth of 25.44% over non-petroleum exports of $22.78 billion in August 2019.

"Value of non-petroleum and nongems and jewellery exports in August 2021 was $25.15 billion, registering a positive growth of 31.66% over nonpetroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports of $19.1 billion in August 2020 and a positive growth of 28.53% over non-petroleum and nongems and jewellery exports of $19.57 billion in August 2019." Detailed merchandise trade data for August is scheduled to be released by September 15.