Exports up 23 pc in Sept; rising imports leave big trade gap

New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) India's exports shot up by 23.2
per cent year-on-year to USD 18.02 billion in September this
fiscal, while faster import expansion increased concerns over
the widening trade gap.
Imports for September grew by annual 26.1 per cent to
USD 27.14 billion, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said here
Monday.
For the first half of the fiscal 2010-11, exports
aggregated to USD 103.30 billion increasing by 27.6 per cent.
The cumulative imports for this period went up to USD
166.5 billion leaving a large trade gap of USD 63.2 billion.
The trade deficit for September alone was USD 9.12
billion, the Secretary said.
The government has been monitoring the trade deficit,
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Saturday.
Khullar attributed increase in exports to a "very strong"
low base of comparison last fiscal, when the global trade was
hit by economic slowdown worldwide.
He said September was the "first month in which, exports
were higher than (for a month) 2008-09".