India’s April-May trade deficit narrows to $29.8-bn as trade shrinks

India's foreign trade continued to shrink for the second consecutive moth of the current financial year, with its imports falling 7.36 per cent year-on-year to $41.9 billion and exports declining by a lesser 4.16 per cent to $25.68 billion in May, government data showed.

The country's trade deficit for April-May 2012-13, the first two months of the current financial year, is estimated at $29.75 billion, a shade lower than the deficit of $31.38 billion during April-May 2011-12.

Imports into the country during May 2012 were valued at $41.95 billion (Rs228,501 crore), showing a negative growth of 7.36 per cent in dollar terms and a growth of 12.38 per cent in rupee terms compared to imports worth $45.28 billion (Rs203,336 crore) in May 2011.

Cumulative imports during April-May 2012-13 stood at $79.89 billion (Rs425,085 crore) against $81.87 billion (Rs365,683 crore) - a negative growth of 2.42 per cent in dollar terms and a growth of 16.24 per cent in rupee terms over the same period last year.

India's oil imports, which rose to $14.99 billion in May 2012 from $13.14 billion in May 2011, accounted for nearly 92 per cent of the country's trade deficit of $16.3 billion for the month'

Oil imports during April-May 2012-13 were valued at $28.90 billion, which was 10.51 per cent higher than oil imports worth $26.15 billion in the corresponding period last year.