India's exports recorded the slowest pace of growth in three months at 4.3 per cent year-on-year at USD 24.6 billion in February, mainly due to the global slowdown.
In sharp contrast, imports grew at a faster rate of 20.6 per cent year-on-year to USD 39.8 billion in the month under review year-on-year, translating into a trade deficit of USD 15.2 billion.
Expressing concerns over the ballooning trade deficit, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said that since October last exports are decelerating faster than imports.
"There is a large ballooning of trade deficit. October onwards, export started coming down sharply whereas the lag in imports deceleration was larger. The two big drivers for high import bill are crude oil and gold and silver," he said.
From a peak of 82 per cent in July, export growth slipped to 44.25 per cent in August, 36.36 per cent in September and 10.8 per cent in October, 3.8 per cent in November 2011.
However, exports grew 6.7 per cent in December, and over 10
"Roughly speaking, exports through the year should be in the neighborhood of USD 292-USD 298 billion. Imports will be close of about USD 480 billion and we are looking at a trade deficit in the order of USD 175-USD 180 billion," Khullar said.
During the 11-months period, oil imports increased by 41 per cent to USD 132.6 billion.
Elaborating about the high import bill, he said: "We have to import coal, fertiliser and vegetable oil. It is a double whammy...you are paying higher prices for these things. These are essentially demand constraints compelling us to import these goods".
Exporters body Fieo said exports have been hit by the slowdown in the US and eurozone, the traditional markets which account for about 35 per cent of India's exports.
