India’s exports contracted 1.2 per cent to $33.98 billion in July after remaining in the positive zone for three months, while trade deficit widened to $23.5 billion.

According to government data, imports rose by about 7.45 per cent to $57.48 billion in July due to a jump in the inbound shipments of crude oil, silver and electronic goods.

Crude oil imports rose 17.44 per cent to $13.87 billion, while silver imports jumped 439 per cent to $165.74 million during the month under review.

The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, was $21 billion in June and $19.3 billion in July 2023.

Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said that going by the current trend, the country’s total exports of goods and services will cross last year’s figure of $778 billion.

He said that one of the reasons for the dip in merchandise exports is the fall in the shipments of petroleum products, which has declined by 22.15 per cent to $5.22 billion.

Fall in prices, low demand and increasing domestic consumption have led to a dip in the exports of petroleum products in July.

The other export sectors, which have recorded negative growth during the month, include rice, cashew, oil seeds, marine products, gems and jewellery, chemicals and cotton yarn/fabrics.

Gold imports dipped by 10.65 per cent to $3.13 billion in July.