Over the course of 2022-23, India’s exports appeared to show a reasonable increase of around 6 per cent even at a time of concern about growth momentum globally. The real driver of the growth numbers was, in fact, petroleum exports. When oil was taken out of the equation, non-oil exports in fact went down slightly as compared to the previous year. According to the Union government, petroleum exports were closing in on $100 billion in value, with almost $95 billion exported during 2022-23, a 40 per cent growth rate over the previous year. As a comparison, finished steel exports saw a decline of over 50 per cent in 2022-23.