India's cumulative export growth in April- Dec stands at 29.5 per cent

New Delhi , Feb 25 (ANI) : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday tabled Economic survey 2010-11 in Lok Sabha, and said India's cumulative export growth in April- Dec 2010 stands at 29.5 per cent with exports reaching US $ 164.7 billion during the period.

He said the exports have continued to rise with exports rising at the rate of 13.6 per cent in 2008 -09 and indicated that "India not only achieve the target of US$ 200 billion but surpass it in 2010-11"

According to the survey, during 2010-11 (April-December) import growth was at 19 per cent accompanied by an increase in both petroleum, oil, and lubricant (POL) and non-POL imports at 17.7 per cent and 19.6 per cent respectively. Trade deficit (on customs basis) increased by 2.4 per cent to US$ 82 billion in 2010-11 (April-December) from US$ 80.1 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Mukherjee said, "the relatively higher import growth compared to export growth in the first half of 2010-11, raised the alarm of a possible unmanageable current account deficit."

"With import growth slowing down from October 2010 and exports picking up in November 2010, the fear that the high current account deficit may be due to high merchandise trade deficit is disappearing" he added.

The survey observes that India's trade with USA, which was in first position in 2007-08, has been relegated to third position in 2008-09, with the UAE becoming India's largest trading partner, followed by China.

The survey also noted that the trade policy measures taken by the Government and the RBI in 2009-10 and 2010-11 focused on reviving exports and export-related employment besides mitigating the effect of inflation. (ANI)