Merchandise exports up 3.12% in Jan

India's overall exports estimated to have risen 9.27% to $69.72 billion in the month

- Rajeev Jayaswal

India's merchandise exports reported a 3.12% increase to $36.92 billion in January despite global headwinds, showing positive growth for the second consecutive month, with overall exports - both goods and services estimated to have risen 9.27% to $69.72 billion in the month, government data released on Thursday said.

Releasing trade data for January, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said, "Despite the Red Sea crisis, recession in economies of advanced countries and falling prices of commodities, we have been able to achieve positive merchandise growth in this month [January], which is quite significant. It is just not marginal..."

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) in October slashed its projection for world merchandise trade growth in 2023 to 0.8% from its earlier estimate of 1.7% in April.

According to official data, India's merchandise exports in December saw a marginal 0.96% year-on-year growth to $38.45 billion after falling by over 3% in November. Monthly merchandise exports in the ongoing financial year (April 2023 to March 2024) saw a poor start with sharp y-o-y contractions in four consecutive months (April, -12.74%; May -10.36%; June -18.78%; and July -9.98%). August saw the first growth (3.79%), but exports again contracted again by 2.7% in September. Merchandise growth in October was, however, positive at 5.97%.