Worrying signals are flashing for Indian exports, as growth slowed to 9 per cent in January 2018 from 12.3 per cent in December 2017, even as imports grew 26.1 per cent, widening the trade deficit to a four-and-a-half-year high of $16.3 billion. Overall, India’s exports grew just 11 per cent in April-January 2017-18 over the same period of 2016-17, almost exactly half the rate at which imports grew in the comparable period.
Expectedly, the trade deficit has expanded briskly; by $131 billion in the first 10 months of 2017-18 against $88 billion in the same period last year, raising fresh
