India’s April-December trade deficit shoots up to over $147 billion

India piled up an estimated trade deficit of  $147.17 billion during the first nine months of the current financial year (April-December 2012-13), up $17.47 billion from the previous month as its imports continued to far outweigh exports through December.

The trade deficit for the April-December period of the previous fiscal (2011-12) stood at $137.32 crore.

India imported goods and services worth a whopping $42.55 billion (Rs2,32,523.66  crore) in December 2012, up 6.26 per cent in dollar terms and up 10.23 per cent in rupee terms compared with the level of imports valued at $40.04 billion (Rs2,10,939.69 crore) during December 2011.

The cumulative value of imports for the period April-December 2012-13 was $361.27 billion (Rs19,67,521.83 crore) against $363.87 billion (Rs17,14,432.42 crore) – a negative growth of 0.71 per cent in dollar terms and a growth of 14.76 per cent in rupee terms over the same period last year.

India exported goods and services of a value of $24.88 billion (Rs1,35,950.47 crore) during April-December 2012-13, a 1.92 per cent increase in dollar terms and a 1.75 per cent increase in rupee terms compared with the level of $25.37 billion (Rs1,33,618.61 crore) during December 2011.

The cumulative value of exports for the April-December 2012 -13 period was $214,10 billion (Rs11,66,438.69) against $226.55 billion (Rs10,66,668.31 crore) registering a  negative growth of 5.50 per cent in dollar terms and a growth of 9.35 per cent in rupee terms over the same period last financial year.