As India's exports grew by 5.7 pct in Sept, know top performers and more here

India’s merchandise exports grew by 5.7% to $27.4 billion in September and trade deficit declined to $2.91 billion from $11.69 billion in the corresponding month last year, revealed the preliminary data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. India’s merchandise exports in September 2019 stood at $26.02 billion. India’s import declined from $37.69 billion in September 2019 to $30.31 billion, a 19.6 per cent fall, it said. Overall, trade deficit saw a whopping improvement of 75.06 % in September 2020. “Make in India, Make for the World: Indian merchandise exports grew 5.27 percent in September 20 as compared to last year,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had tweeted after the data was released by the commerce ministry on October 1. 

Here is which commodity groups contributed the maximum in this reversal and the ones that registered negative growth. 

Drugs and Pharmaceuticals: Drugs and pharmaceuticals were the biggest contributor in breaking this six-month long streak of poor supply. Buoyed by Coronavirus-induced demand, India exported drugs and pharmaceuticals equipment worth $438.88 million, a 24.36 % change from corresponding month last year. 

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Rice: India’s rice exports stood at second in leading this positive growth. India exported rice worth $345.77 million, a 92.44 % jump from the same month last year. 

Engineering Goods: Third contributor was engineering goods. India exported engineering goods worth $244.16 million in September 2020, a change of 3.73 per cent in the same period. 

Other major commodities that recorded positive growth in exports during September 2020 vis-a-vis September 2019 period were: Cereals (304.71%), Iron ore (109.52%), oil meals (43.90%), carpet (42.89%), ceramic products and glassware (35.92%), oil seeds (3.42%), handicrafts (21.40%), meat, dairy and poultry products (19.96%), handloom products (14.82%), tobacco (10.21%), spices (10.07%), plastic and linoleum (6.50%) etc.. 

Key sectors such as petroleum, leather, engineering goods and gems and jewellery registered negative growth: The products (both export and import) in terms of maximum value that recorded negative growth during the same period are. 

Gems and Jewellery:  $884.54 million  

Man-made yarns/madeups etc: $36.09% million 

Marine products: $34.40 million  

Petroleum, crude and products: $3263.53 million 

Machinery, electrical and non-electrical: $1302.57 million 

Transport equipment:  $772.33 million  

Silver (93.92%), cotton raw and waste (82.02%), newsprint (62.44%), gold (52.85%), leather and leather products (43.80%) were some other major commodity groups of import that registered negative growth in September.