Goods trade deficit in September narrowed to a seven-month low of $8.98 billion with exports, that surged by 25.7% to $28.6 billion, outpacing imports that rose 18.1% to $37.6 billion, according to government data released by the Commerce Ministry on Friday.
Positive trend
The growth in goods exports registered in September was in continuation with the trend of positive growth exhibited by shipments for the last 13 months.
“Braving the teething troubles of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll-out, if India has achieved such an impressive export growth in September, 2017, it shows a clear positive turnaround in the global economic environment,” T. S. Bhasin, chairman, EEPC India, the apex body for engineering exporters, said in a statement.
The Commerce Ministry said all the top 10 commodity groups of exports had shown positive growth in September 2017 over the year earlier period — comprising 82.14% share of total exports.
Mr. Bhasin said engineering sector had been among the brightest spots with demand for the entire metal pack picking up along with industrial goods.
“Once the GST hurdles are behind us, exports would lead the India growth story again,” he added.
Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in September 2017 jumped 28.65% to $20.2 billion.
Concerns about jobs
However, G. K. Gupta, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said in a statement that “some of the major labour-intensive sectors like handicraft, fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy and poultry products and iron-ore have posted negative growth.
“The decline in these highly employment-intensive sectors is a worrisome sign,” Mr. Gupta added.