Merchandise trade deficit widens in Jan

India's foreign trade has been hit by weak demand in major markets, geopolitical tensions, volatile commodity prices

- Rhik Kundu & Dhirendra Kumar

India's merchandise trade deficit rose to a two-month high of $22.99 billion in January on the back of higher imports.

Economists had expected the January trade deficit to be $22.35 billion, according to a Reuters poll.

Merchandise exports declined to $36.43 billion in January by value from $38.01 billion in the previous month, and from $37.32 billion a year earlier, data released by the commerce ministry on Monday showed.

Meanwhile, goods imports rose steadily annually at $59.42 billion, up from $53.88 billion in the year-ago period. Merchandise imports in December stood at $59.95 billion.

The merchandise trade deficit—the difference between exports and imports—stood at $21.94 billion in December. The goods trade deficit had widened to $32.8 billion in November, and stood at $27.4 billion in October, and $20.78 billion in September.