Market and product

India’s exports in March rose 19.8% year on year to $42.2bn – exceeding the $40bn mark for the first time – on continued increase in demand for its engineering goods and petroleum products.

For the fiscal year ending March 2022, exports rose 43.81% year on year to $419.65.74bn; and up 33.92% over the same period in FY2019-20, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

High exports were achieved despite the worldwide economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent geopolitical developments in Europe, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on 13 April.

The Indian government has signed vital trade deals with the UAE and Australia in a bid to increase the country’s exports, he said, adding that India was working on bilateral trade agreements with the EU, UK, Canada and Israel.

March exports of petroleum products more than doubled to $7.8bn from $3.6bn in the same period last year, while those of organic and inorganic chemicals grew 22% to $2.8bn.

Shipments of plastic and linoleum increased 18.23% to $850m.while manmade yarn and fabrics rose 14.73% to $527m.

India’s March trade deficit stood at around $18.51bn, up from $13.64bn in the same period in 2020, with the merchandise trade deficit for the fiscal year ending March 2022 stood at $192.24bn as against $102.63 in 2020-21.

Merchandise imports for March stood at $60.74bn, up 24.21% year on year, and nearly 93% higher compared with March 2020 levels.

India’s total merchandise imports for the fiscal year ending March 2022 stood at $611.89bn, up 55.13% year on year and nearly 29% higher compared with pre-pandemic levels during 2019-20.

Imports of fertilisers in March surged eightfold to $1.66bn from $204.16m in the previous corresponding period on global short supply and high prices.

Imports of crude petroleum and products rose 82.97% to $18.79bn.

For organic and inorganic chemicals, imports for the month increased 32.8% to $2.79bn; while imports of artificial resins and plastic materials grew 12.13% to $1.92bn.

“It is encouraging to see that India’s exports to developed economies including the US, Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK, Belgium and Germany saw a quantum jump during the previous fiscal, which also showcases the increasing strength of manufacturing in exports,” Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president A Sakthivel said in a statement.  - ICIS-