Government hopeful of closing trade gap in Jan-March: Anand Sharma

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The government is hopeful that exports in January will help close the trade gap, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.

Data released separately showed exports were up 0.8 percent in January while imports rose 6 percent. The trade deficit in January stood at $20 billion.

Sharma said gold imports are a matter of concern and a balanced approach is needed towards gold import duty.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Sunil Nair)