India's exports and imports in September did not live up to their August performance. Exports fell 14% to USD 13.6 billion. What's worse they were down 6% even from their August levels. This dip comes after three consecutive months of improvement on a month-on-month basis.

Imports fell 31% largely led by a 33% fall in oil imports. That was to be expected since year ago crude prices were at all time highs. What was disappointing is the fall in non-oil imports by 30% to USD 15 billion.

The only positive from the trade numbers is that trade deficit for September has halved to USD 7.8 billion from USD 15.3 billion a year ago.