July exports surge 50% YoY, led by strong global orders - Moneycontrol.com

(Representative image)

Owing to an uptick in global orders, India's merchandise exports shot up in July, rising by a major 49.8 percent as compared to July, 2020. Impressively, exports also rose by 35 percent as compared to July, 2019, before the pandemic struck.

Data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on August 13 showed outbound trade rose to $35.43 billion in July, up from $23.64 billion in July, 2020. Cumulatively, exports have grown by 74.96 percent to $130.82 billion in the April-July period of FY22 (2021-22) as compared to the same period of 2o20. Compared to 2019, exports have gone up by 22.09 percent over the same period ($107.15 billion), the Ministry said.

Official statistics show exports of engineering goods was the biggest revenue earner in July at $9.5 billion, rising 42 percent. Processed petroleum saw the biggest growth in July as exports more than doubled. With a 230 percent growth, petroleum exports helped earn $5.8 billion in July. This was followed by $3.4 billion worth of gems and jewellery, shipments of which rose by 130 percent.

Other major export segments such as electronics, textiles and pharma also saw major growth in July. Exporters say there has been a continued revival not only in the order booking positions but also in the demand from across the globe.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations has emphasised that many  labour-intensive sectors were the main contributors, which itself is a good sign, further helping job creation in the country.

After a difficult FY21 (2020-21), exports had began rising since December. In February, before the low base effect kicked in, growth was a marginal 0.67 percent. Since then, calculated annually(Y-o-Y), exports had risen by 48.3 percent in June, 69.7 percent in May and 193.63 percent in April, due to the low base effect which is now slowly wearing off.

Till now, the rise has been, atleast partly due to the extremely low volume of trade beginning in March last year when the nationwide lockdown had been imposed. Trade had been among the first industries to be hit in the initial days of the pandemic, after a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 23. However, the impact of lockdown in other nations also impacted trade had already begun, thus adversely affecting shipping flows even before that.

Imports also rise

In July, imports saw an equally large rise, going up by a huge 62.9 percent to $46.4 billion. Similar to exports, as the low base wears off, the jumps in import growth have moderated. Imports had risen by 98.3 percent in June, 73.6 percent in May and 163 percent in April.

In the latest month, gold imports saw among the highest rises at 135 percent to cross $4 billion. The largest part of the import bill - petroleum and crude oil - saw imports nearly double to $12.89 billion.

Adblock test (Why?)

July exports surge 50% YoY, led by strong global orders - Moneycontrol.com
Read More