Mumbai: India''s trade deficit for the five months of the current financial year beginning April 2007 rose to $32.5 billion, helped by a further rise in non-oil imports into the country in August this year.

India''s imports surged an annual 32.64 per cent to $19.57 billion in August even as the country''s exports rose 18.9 per cent for the same month to $12.7 billion, official data showed.

The country''s trade deficit for August was $6.88 billion, compared to $4.08 billion in the same month a year earlier.

Imports during August were valued at $19.6 billion, while they stood at $92 billion for the April-August 2007-08 period.

Exports during the August were valued at $12.7 billion, while the total for April-August period worked out to be $59.5 billion, up by 18.36 per cent over the same period a year ago.

Import of non-oil items during August increased by 39.57 per cent while for the April-August period, it went up by 31.07 per cent. Oil imports during August went up by 19.52 per cent.

As regards April-August 2007-08, oil imports went up by 8.32 per cent, while non-oil imports registered an increase of 42.85 per cent.

The appreciation of the rupee seems to have failed to make much dent on Indian exports. Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has pierced the Rs40 against the dollar.

also see : General reports on Economy