The country's exports rose by 23.69 per cent to $34.06 billion in January on healthy performance by engineering, petroleum and gems and jewellery segments even as trade deficit widened to $17.94 billion during the month, according to provisional data of the commerce ministry.
Imports in January grew by 23.74 per cent to $52.01 billion, the data, released on Tuesday, showed.
Trade deficit widened to $17.94 billion during the month as against $14.49 billion in the same month last year.
Cumulatively, exports during April-January 2021-22 rose by 46.53 per cent to $335.44 billion as against $228.9 billion in the same period last year.
Imports during the period jumped by 62.68 per cent to $495.83 billion.
Trade deficit, difference between imports and exports, stood at $160.38 billion during the ten months period of this fiscal as compared to $75.87 billion in April-January 2020.
According to the data, gold imports in January dipped by 40.42 per cent to $2.4 billion.
Crude oil imports rose by 21.3 per cent to $11.43 billion in January.
Engineering exports rose by 24.13 per cent to $9.2 billion, petroleum by 74.73 per cent to $3.73 billion and gems and jewellery by 13.83 per cent to $3.23 billion.
Pharmaceuticals exports, however, dipped by 1 per cent to $2.05 billion in January.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) vice president Khalid Khan said that going by the current rate of growth, India will achieve $400 billion exports target for this fiscal.
FIEO president A Sakthivel said that the additional budget for the Interest Equalization Scheme for 2021-22 and provision of Rs 2,621.50 crore for 2022-23 have provided assurance on the continuance of the scheme and "we are expecting a suitable announcement in this regard".
