Bright spot on economy: Exports grow 57 pc in May

New Delhi, Jul 1: Exports witnessed huge annualised growth of 56.9 per cent to USD 25.9 billion in May in a bright spot for the Indian economy, which is battling high inflation amid signs of a slowdown.

In the April-May period, exports grew by 45 per cent to USD 49.7 billion vis-a-vis the same period last year.

Imports, too, increased by 54 per cent to USD 40.9 billion in May -- the highest growth rate in the last four years -- leaving a trade deficit of USD 14.9 billion.

In the first two months of the 2011-12 fiscal, imports were up 33.3 per cent to USD 73.7 billion and the trade gap for the period stood at USD 23.9 billion, as per data released today.

In fact, the trend of healthy exports even in the previous months helped the country moderate its current account deficit to 2.6 per cent of the GDP in the last fiscal.

"This is a sign of robust scenario... coupled with effective government initiative," exporters'' body FIEO President Ramu S Deora said. While the government has not formally set an export target for the current fiscal, USD 300 billion can be achieved, according to industry estimates.

Exports grew by 37.5 per cent to USD 246 billion in 2010-11.

While there are signs of a slowdown in overall industrial growth of 6.3 per cent and high inflation of over 9 per cent in May, exporters have put out a sterling performance despite the financial woes in several European economies.

PTI