After two months of respite, India’s import bill has again started going up, partly due to high crude prices and the restarting of refineries under repair. Exports, however, continued their 30% year on year growth in January, though they slipped by around $2 billion compared to December.
Oil imports bounced back from $6.9 billion in December to $7.9 billion in January while non-oil imports jumped from $18.2 billion in December to $20.7 billion January.
Total exports jumped to $28.6 billion in January, compared to $25.1 billion in December and $24.7 billion in January 2010.
As a result, the trade deficit, which had narrowed to a record $2 billion in December, shot up to $8 billion.
For the first ten months of the financial year, total trade deficit — the gap between what India exports to the world and what it imports — was at $89 billion, $1 billion less that the same period last year.
Oil imports during April-January were valued at US$ 80 billion, an increase of 13.9 per cent, while non-oil imports were at $194 billion, an increase of 19%.
Exports so far this year, at $185 billion, were up 29%.
