Indian exports dive 19pc

[Naveed Yaseen]

NEW DELHI: India’s exports fell at their lowest pace in months, government data showed on Thursday, signalling global trade could be picking up ahead of Christmas, officials said.

Exports slid in August by 19.4 per cent from a year earlier to 14.3 billion dollars after tumbling by 28.4 per cent in July, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

The rate of decline in India’s exports has been easing ever since merchandise shipments slumped a hefty 33 percent last March.

“From a high of over 30 per cent, the (rate of) decline has come below 20 per cent and in the months to come we’ll see it in single digits,” said A Sakthivel, president of the Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO).

Christmas sales in the United States and Europe are expected to gain momentum, creating more demand for goods from countries like India, he said.

“However at this stage, it would be premature to conclude that we are on way to recovery,” he added.

Unlike China, where overseas sales have been a main growth driver over the past three decades, exports account for just 15 percent of gross domestic product in India’s still relatively inward-looking economy.

Economists say this, along with its vast domestic market of nearly 1.2 billion people, has helped shield India’s economy from the impact of the worst global slump since the 1930s.

But the decline in exports has caused heavy job losses in labour-intensive sectors such as garments and jewellery.

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