India's October trade deficit widens to $17.13 billion

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's October trade deficit widened to $17.13 billion due to a higher oil import bill, the country's trade ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

In September, the trade deficit was at $13.98 billion.

India, the world's third-biggest crude importer, buys over 80 percent of its oil needs from overseas markets.

The country's oil imports in October totalled $14.21 billion, up 52.64 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)