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Contracting for the 10th month in a row, India's merchandise exports dipped 24.33 per cent in September to $21.84 billion, mainly due to steep fall in shipments of petroleum products, iron ore, and engineering goods amid tepid global demand.
The imports too shrank 25.42 per cent to $32.32 billion in September on yearly basis, thus narrowing the trade gap to 10.47 billion from $14.47 billion recorded in the same month of 2014.
Exports in September 2014 were valued at $28.86 billion. The cumulative exports during the first half of 2015-16 have been valued at $132.93 billion versus $161.39 billion in the same period of last year.
Exports were down 17.36 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2015-16.
As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry, the trade gap or trade deficit during April-September 2015-16 has narrowed to $67.99 billion as against $72.69 billion in the same period last fiscal.
The data further showed that oil imports during September were valued at $6.62 billion, down 54.53 per cent year-on-year.
Oil imports during April-September stood at $48.128 billion which were 41.58 per cent lower than that of $82.378 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Gold imports declined by 45.62 per cent in September to $2 billion from $3.78 billion in the same month of 2014.
On export front, shipments of petroleum products shrank 60.35 per cent to $2.44 billion while that of iron ore declined by 40.37 per cent to 9.47 million.
A sharp decline in exports of engineering products was also witnessed in September. The shipments declined by 22.81 per cent to $5 billion from $6.5 billion in the year ago period.