Merchandise trade statistics for India, March 2012

Finally, we have the complete figures for merchandise trade for India for the year. You can see the complete press release here.

Exports:

Exports during March, 2012 were valued at US$ 28681.95 million (Rs.144331.29 crore) which was 5.71 per cent lower in Dollar terms (5.46 per cent higher in Rupee terms) than the level of US$ 30418.50 million (Rs. 136857.10) during March, 2011. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-March 2011 -12 was US$ 303718.70 million (Rs. 1454065.61crore) as against US$ 251136.19 million (Rs.1142921.92 crore) registering a growth of 20.94 per cent in Dollar terms and 27.22 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.

Imports:

Imports during March, 2012 were valued at US$ 42587.99 million (Rs.214308.30 crore) representing a growth of 24.28 per cent in Dollar terms (39.01 per cent in Rupee terms) over the level of imports valued at US$ 34266.97 million ( Rs. 154171.89 crore) in March, 2011. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-March, 2011-12 was US$ 488640.39 million (Rs.2342216.79 crore) as against US$ 369769.12 million (Rs. 1683466.96 crore) registering a growth of 32.15 per cent in Dollar terms and 39.13 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.

Trade Deficit:

The trade deficit for April-March, 2011-12 was estimated at US$ 184921.69 million which was higher than the deficit of US$ 118632.93 million during April-March, 2010-11.


So the trade deficit is around 184 billion USD. That's above my expectations of around 180 billion USD. So, we have a real bad trade balance now. So, when someone cheers that commerce ministry has met the goal of reaching a goal of 300 billion USD exports targets, I can only smile.

I will be soon posting another blog about the analysis of these figures. For once, let's go beyond blaming Gold and Crude and see what ails our export sector. Will keep you posted.