India’s merchandise exports for March surge over 19% YoY basis

India's merchandise imports in March 2022 increased by 24.21 percent over last year to $60.74 billion from $48.90 billion

PGurus Newsdesk

April 14, 2022

India's merchandise imports in March 2022 increased by 24.21 percent over last year to $60.74 billion from $48.90 billion

Merchandise exports surge over 19%, imports 24%

As per the official data released on Wednesday, India’s March 2022 merchandise exports rose to $42.22 billion, higher by 19.76 percent on a year-on-year basis, while the exports during March 2021 stood at $35.26 billion. India’s merchandise imports in March 2022 increased by 24.21 percent over last year to $60.74 billion from $48.90 billion.

The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said, “Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewelry exports in March 2022 were $30.67 billion, registering a positive growth of 9.4 percent over non-petroleum and non-gems & jewelry exports of $28.03 billion in March 2021 and a positive growth of 80.90 percent over non-petroleum and non-gems & jewelry exports of $16.95 billion in March 2020.”

“Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewelry (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $37.35 billion in March 2022 with a positive growth of 35.44 percent over non-petroleum, non-gems & jewelry imports of $27.58 billion in March 2021 and a positive growth of 99.77 percent over non-petroleum, non-gems and jewelry imports of $18.70 billion in March 2020.”

The trade deficit widened by 35.72 percent on a year-on-year basis to $18.51 billion in March 2022 from $13.64 billion in the like period of 2021.

“Both non-oil exports and non-oil non-gold imports recorded their FY2022 high in March 2022. However, the pace of growth of non-oil exports marked an FY2022 low of 8.9 percent in March 2022, whereas non-oil non-gold imports expanded by a massive 76.1 percent in YoY terms on a subdued base,” ICRA’s Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said.

“The non-gold trade deficit widened multifold to $17.5 billion in March 2022 from $5.1 billion in March 2021, driven by petroleum products, coal, and electronic goods, partly driven by the spike in commodity prices following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

In terms of the full fiscal year, the data showed that India’s FY22 merchandise exports rose to $419.65 billion, higher by 43.81 percent on a year-on-year basis from $291.81 billion reported for the previous fiscal. Besides, the data showed that FY22 merchandise imports increased by 55.13 percent over last year to $611.89 billion from $394.44 billion in FY21.

The trade deficit for FY22 widened by 87.32 percent on a year-on-year basis to $192.24 billion from $102.63 billion in the previous fiscal.

FIEO President A. Sakthivel said that engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewelry, organic and inorganic chemicals, electronic goods, and agricultural products were amongst the top-performing export sectors during FY22.

In addition, he said that India’s exports to developed economies including US, Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, Belgium, and Germany saw a quantum jump during the previous fiscal which showcases the increasing strength of manufacturing in exports.

[With Inputs from IANS]
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