Import of sensitive items up 33% in April-Dec

Imports of automobile parts expand 80 per cent.

India’s imports of sensitive items surged 33 per cent to reach Rs 33,864 crore in the April-December period of 2008, compared with Rs 25,454 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, a commerce ministry release said today.

Imports of sensitive items — farm products, goods made by emerging industrial sectors and small-scale units — expanded nearly 37 per cent in the same period of the previous year. The increase in value of imports of these items was also due to the 23 per cent annual depreciation in the rupee against the dollar during the period.

Imports in the same period expanded about 45 per cent in rupee terms. Imports of sensitive items constitute 3.4 per cent of the total imports into the country.

Imports of automobile parts and accessories expanded nearly 80 per cent to Rs 8,671.21 crore in the April-December period of 2008, from Rs 4,834.77 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

According to a commerce ministry release, there was a significant increase in imports of parts for motor cars, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles as well as goods carriers.

Auto components accounted for a fourth of total sensitive items imported into the country in the April-December period of 2008, compared with about a fifth in the same period of the previous year.

Imports of automobiles in the period under consideration also expanded 41 per cent and stood at Rs 1,187 crore in the nine months ended December 2008, against Rs 842 crore in the same period last year.

Imports of food grains dipped almost 99 per cent in the April-December period of 2008, and stood at Rs 20.2 crore, compared with Rs 1,473.6 crore in the same period of last year. This was due to a bumper harvest of the cereal.

Imports of edible oil in the period under consideration increased nearly 30 per cent to Rs 10,943.55 crore as against Rs 8,439.8 crore in the corresponding month of 2007. This was due to 132 per cent increase in imports of refined oil.

Moreover, import of crude edible oil expanded 16 per cent and stood at Rs 8,639.57 crore, compared with 7,446.65 crore in the same period of previous year.

The commerce ministry release added that imports of sensitive items from China, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia, United States, Germany, Thailand, Cote D’ Ivore, Brazil, Czech Republic, Italy and Australia went up during the period.