March exports soar 54% to $19.9 bn

Merchandise exports grew by a healthy 54.1 per cent in March, for the fifth month in a row, to touch $19.9 billion against $12.91 billion in the same period last year, mainly on account of low base.

The value of exports for the entire 2009-10 fiscal, however, declined by 4.7 per cent to $176.5 billion as demand from traditional markets in the West had dried up during the global economic slowdown.

Imports in March too jumped by a robust 67.1 per cent to $27.73 billion from $16.59 billion over the year ago period, an official release said here today.

During the April-March period, imports dipped by 8.2 per cent to $278.7 billion from the previous fiscal's $303.7 billion. As a result, trade deficit also shrunk to $102 billion from $118 billion.

Crude oil imports in March grew by 85.2 per cent to $7.73 billion over the year ago period. In March 2009, the oil imports was $4.17 billion.

Non-oil imports too went up by 61 per cent to $20 billion in the month under review from $12.42 last year.

During the 2009-10 fiscal, oil imports declined by 8.7 per cent to $85.47 billion from $93.66 billion year on year. Non-oil imports dipped by 8 per cent to $193.20 billion from $210 billion in April-March 2008-09.