Exports grew by a healthy 18.91 per cent during August despite fears of a slowdown on account of continuous appreciation of rupee against the dollar.

Exports during the month were valued at $12.7 billion, while the total for April-August period worked out to be $59.5 billion, up by 18.36 per cent over the same period a year ago.

The imports during August registered an increase of 32.64 per cent, mainly on account of high growth in import of non-oil items, which increased by 39.57 per cent. Imports during April-August went up by 31.07 per cent.

Imports during August were valued at $19.6 billion, while the they were $92 billion during April-August 2007-08.

Oil imports during August went up by 19.52 per cent.

As regards April-August 2007-08, oil imports went up by 8.32 per cent, while non-oil imports registered an increase of
42.85 per cent.

Higher imports pushed up the trade deficit to $6.9 billion in August from $4.1 billion in the corresponding month last fiscal.

The trade deficit during April-August 2007-08 was $32.5 billion as compared to $19.9 billion during the corresponding period last year.

The Indian currency, which has appreciated over seven per cent since the beginning of this year and pierced the Rs 40 to a dollar mark, has not created any dent on Indian exports.