Dec exports surge 9% to $14.6 bn on key sector growth

The country's exports in December have grown to $14.6 billion, up 9.4 per cent over November, on the back of a strong growth in pharma, engineering and auto components sectors, Commerce and Industry minister, Anand Sharma said today.

"We have registered exports of $14.6 billion in December, which is a growth of 9.4 per cent over November. Sectors which have contributed to the growth are pharma, engineering, automotive  compo nets and chemicals," Sharma told reporters at Bancon conference here.

Although the country's exports have moved to a positive terrain in the past two months, the economy is yet to recover from the losses resulted from 13-months of continuous fall in exports, Sharma said, adding that export-growth is expected to  maintain momentum moving ahead.

However, the government cannot be complacent upon the positive numbers as this could be on account of base-effect, Sharma said. "We have  to see the overall scenario," he said.

The minister, however, ruled out, importing wheat and rice in the immediate future.

Zooming food price-inflation remains as a major concern to the government and in some cases there have been speculative build ups, Sharma said.