Exports fall 12.66% in Aug; trade deficit narrows to $6.77 billion

Contracting for the sixth straight month, India's exports slipped 12.66 per cent to $22.7 billion in August, on account of decline in the shipments of petroleum, leather, engineering goods and gems and jewellery items, according to the government data released on Tuesday.

The country's imports too declined 26 per cent to $29.47 billion in August, leaving a trade deficit of $6.77 billion, compared to a shortfall of $13.86 billion in the same month last year, as per the data.

Oil imports declined by 41.62 per cent to $6.42 billion in the month under review.

Gold imports jumped to $3.7 billion in August this year as against $1.36 billion in August 2019.

During the April-August period, exports declined by 26.65 per cent to $97.66 billion, while imports fell 43.73 per cent to $118.38 billion.

Trade deficit during the period stood at $20.72 billion.