New Delhi: Growing for the third consecutive month, the country’s exports grew by 0.67 percent year-on-year to reach $ 27.93 billion in February. According to official data released on Monday, the trade deficit widened to $ 12.62 billion. The data revealed that imports have increased by 6.96 percent to reach $ 40.54 billion in the month. The trade deficit stood at $ 10.16 billion in February 2020.
During the period April-February 2020-21, exports fell by 12.23 percent to reach $ 256.18 billion. It was $ 291.87 billion in the year-ago period. Imports declined 23.11 percent to $ 340.8 billion in April-February.
In February, oil imports fell by 16.63 per cent to $ 8.99 billion. Whereas shipments fell by 40.18 per cent to $ 72.08 billion during April-February. Gold imports jumped to $ 5.3 billion in February, from $ 2.36 billion in the year-ago month.
Among the sectors which have shown positive exports during February are oilmeal, iron ore, rice (30.78 per cent), carpets (19.46 per cent), spices (18.61 per cent), pharmaceuticals (14.74 per cent), tobacco (7.71 per cent) and chemicals (1.2 Per cent). The sectors which have seen negative growth include oilseed, leather, petroleum products, cashew, gems and jewelery, ready made clothes, tea, engineering goods, coffee and marine products.
