Exports post surprise rise

New Delhi: Indian exports grew for the fourth straight month in December 2016, expanding by 5.72 per cent at $23.9 billion, shaking off worries of demonetisation hitting trade. Imports too rose by 0.46 per cent to $34.25 billion in December. This left a trade deficit of $10.36 billion in December.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president S C Ralhan said that  global sentiments have started showing positive signs and  US Fed rate hike and demonetisation have very limited impact on exports.

The FIEO president said that the growth across sectors in 18 out of 30 major product groups, have not only been positive in December but sectors specially iron ore have continued to show a robust gro-wth of over 800 per cent.

Mr Ralhan said that petroleum exports which has a major contribution in the exports basket has continued to growth with a positive growth of well over eight per cent.

“Looking at the continuous positive trend of growth in exports, we are on our course to achieve exports of about $270-280 billion during the current fiscal. The focus in such challenging times should be on marketing with proactive support from the government,” he added.

“The export growth is noteworthy as other key countries have been facing negative export growth. However, we need to be cautious about the Chin-ese currency devaluation as their exports are falling,” said CII.