India's trade deficit in goods narrowed to $14.54 billion in January as exports grew faster than imports, revised data released by the government on Monday showed. The merchandise trade deficit was $15.3 billion in January 2020. The merchandise exports rose 6.16% in January from a year earlier to $27.45 billion, while imports were up 2.03% to $42 billion, the data showed. Exports in January 2021 were $27.45 billion, as compared to $25.85 billion in January 2020, exhibiting a positive growth of 6.16%, the government said. However, cumulative value of exports during April-January this fiscal dipped by 13.58 % to $228.25 billion, while imports declined by 25.92 per cent to $300.26 billion.
On the other hand, imports in January 2021 were $41.99 billion (Rs.3,06,951.56 crore), which is an increase of 2.03% in dollar terms and 4.60% in rupee terms over imports of $41.15 billion (Rs2,93,452.69 crore) in January 2020. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-January 2020-21 was $300.26 billion as against $405.33 billion during the period April-January 2019-20, registering a negative growth of (-) 25.92%, the data showed. Oil imports are down 27.7% at $9.40 billion. Non-oil imports up 15.8% at $38.50 billion. Gold imports up 154.7% at $4.04 billion. Electronic goods imports up 17.4% at $5.28 billion. Petroleum product exports down 32.1% at $2.16 billion. Gems & Jewellery exports down 1.3% at $2.84 billion. Engineering goods export up 18.8% at $7.39 billion.