New Delhi, May 3 : Continuing the growth momentum, India’s merchandise export rose 24.22% in April, 2022 to $ 38.19 billion as compared to $ 30.75 billion in the corresponding month last year. Petroleum products, electronic goods and chemicals were among the key items which drove the high growth in exports during April. Merchandise import in April 2022 was $ 58.26 billion, an increase of 26.55% over US$ 46.04 billion in April 2021. The trade deficit in April 2022 was $ 20.07 billion as against $ 15.29 billion in the same month last year. As per the data released by Commerce Ministry on Tuesday, engineering goods exports in April this year grew 15% year-on-year to $ 9.2 billion. Petroleum products exports jumped 113% year-on-year to $ 7.7 billion in April. Gems and jewellery exports, however, declined 2% year-on-year to $ 3.3 billion during this period. Among the major items of imports, petroleum products continued to be one of the key import drivers. In April, import of petroleum and crude stood at $19.5 billion registering 81% year-on-year growth as compared to $10.76 billion in the same month last year. Coal, coke and briquettes worth $ 4.73 billion were imported last month recording 136% year-on-year growth. Electronic goods imports were 28.63 higher in the month of April. Significantly, gold imports declined 73% year-on-year in April to $ 1.68 billion. “The increase in the merchandise trade deficit from US$ 15.3 billion in April 2021 to US$ 20.1 billion in April 2022 was entirely on account of oil. Although the non-oil trade deficit remained stable, there was a shift in its composition, with a plunge in gold imports being offset by a rise in non-oil non-gold imports such as coal and chemicals, an unsavoury yet expected fallout of the higher commodity prices engendered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” said ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar. Commenting on the trade data, EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said that despite geo-political challenges, the engineering goods export has continued to be high showing India is gradually moving towards becoming a manufacturing powerhouse in the world. He, however, noted that there are certain challenges such as high logistics cost and unprecedented increase in raw material costs which have been hurting the engineering as well as other sectors. “The government is well aware of the issues facing the sector and we hope policy actions would be taken to minimize the impact,” Desai said. Merchandise exports from the country surpassed $400 billion target set by the government in FY22. Buoyed by the stellar performance, the government is expected to chase higher target this financial year. Export sector has been one of the key growth engines of the economy and has consistently performed in the post-pandemic times on the back of robust demand from advanced economies, pent-up demand and high commodity prices among other factors.
