Even the truncated exports target of $175 billion for the fiscal would be hard to meet as the country's overseas sales dipped by 13 per cent in February - the fifth decline in a row.
Even the truncated exports target of $175 billion for the fiscal would be hard to meet as the country's overseas sales dipped by 13 per cent in February - the fifth decline in a row.
According to quick estimates of the government, imports also fell for second consecutive month by about 18 per cent during the period.
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Exports in February contracted to $13.04 billion, while imports shrank by 18.1 per cent to $17.02 billion, reducing the trade deficit to $4 billion compared to $5.69 billion in the same period last year.
The cumulative exports during April-February 2008-09 stood at $157.3 billion compared to $142.85 billion in the corresponding period last year.
While imports in the same period grew by 21 per cent to $260.35 billion from $215.22 billion in the year ago period. Even to touch the $175 billion exports target, the country requires about $18 billion in the next three weeks, which appears a toll order.
"By seeing the continuous dip in the exports, we expect that India's exports will end up on $168-170 billion during the financial year," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president A Sakthivel said.
He said that still the country requires over 18 per cent growth in exports to meet the scaled down target of $175 billion. After registering a handsome growth of over 30 per cent in the first half of the financial year, Indian exports entered into the negative territory and plunged by 12.1 per cent in October 2008.
In November exports dipped 9.9 per cent dip, 1.1 per cent in December and 15.9 per cent in January 2009.
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