Trade gap declines to $97 bn in Apr-Feb FY11

With exports growing at a much faster rate than imports, India's trade deficit for April-February FY11 declined to $97.06 billion from $100.24 billion in the same period previous year.

Decline in trade gap, augurs well for the country's current account deficit (CAD), which has come down to 20.49% to $9.7 billion in the October-December quarter over the same period last year.

CAD, which includes deficit in external trade of goods, and services, besides net investment income, stood at 2.9% of GDP last fiscal.

Merchandise exports for the 11 month period of FY11 went up by 31% to $208 billion, while expansion in imports was much slower at 18% to $305.3 billion over the same period last year.

In February, the trade deficit reduced to $8.1 billion from $10.4 billion a year ago, according to the Commerce Ministry data released today.

In FY11, the trade gap is expected at $110 billion as compared to $102 billion in FY10, trade experts said.