Vikrant Shekhawat : May 03, 2022, 10:05 PM
New Delhi. India's merchandise exports declined to $ 38.19 billion in April as compared to the previous month i.e. March. It stood at $42.22 billion in March. However, imports have not decreased in this proportion. It came down to $58.26 billion in April as against $60.74 billion in March. Thus, the country's trade deficit increased from $18.51 billion to $20.07 billion during this period.On a year-on-year basis, growth in exports and imports remained strong. While exports grew by 24.2 per cent in April as compared to last year, imports were up by 26.6 per cent. Trade deficit was 31.2 percent higher than April 2021. Purchase of petroleum highestPetroleum and crude products accounted for the largest share in India's total imports. That is, petroleum imports continued to increase the import figure. Petroleum and crude products accounted for 33.5 per cent of imports in April. In value terms, $19.51 billion of these products were imported last month, an increase of 81.2 percent on a year-on-year basis.Effect of inflation on imports tooThe effect of inflation is also visible on imports around the world. The effect of rising energy prices is visible in the price of imported coal. Coal, coke and briquettes worth $4.74 billion were imported in April, an increase of 136.4 percent over the same month last year.gold imports downHowever, gold imports declined 73 per cent to $1.69 billion. On the export front, engineering goods worth $9.20 billion were shipped overseas, up 15.4 percent from April 2021. Higher energy prices also helped India's exports of petroleum products. Final trade data for April will be released in mid-May.