Growth in exports to western markets during the April-June quarter has underscored India's competitive economic strength against the background of global slowdown.
New data collated by the Commerce and Industry Ministry shows that India's exports to the USA grew by a robust 10.4 per cent during the quarter. Shipments to The Netherlands jumped by 41.3 per cent while exports to the United Kingdom rose by 21.9 per cent.
Singapore followed with a 26.55 per cent rise in imports from India, and the United Arab Emirates took second place with a 17.6 per cent rise.
The USA continued to be the largest export market for India, ahead of the UAE and The Netherlands. However, the exports to China witnessed a marginal fall of 2.8 per cent and thus the trade deficit increased due to higher imports by 8.3 per cent from the neighbouring nation.
Despite the global challenges—the disruptions in trade due to incidents such as Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict—India managed to post positive export growth for three months in a row.
The Reserve Bank of India expects that ahead, strengthening global economic activity across both advanced and emerging economies will impart impetus to world trade in goods and services, which will be conducive to the economy of India.
It increased the outbound shipment of goods and services from India to USD 65.47 billion in June—a 5.4 percent increase. Cumulative exports for the April-June quarter were at USD 200.33 billion, a robust growth of 8.4 percent.
According to Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, "India's overall exports in Q1 of 2024-25 have crossed $200 billion. If this trend continues, we can easily cross $800 billion exports for this fiscal year." The view gets merged into the positive prognosis by India as global economic variables get redefined.
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