India's August exports fall 12.66%, imports contract 26%; trade deficit narrows to $6.77 billion

Contracting for the sixth straight month, India's exports slipped 12.66 percent to $22.7 billion in August, on account of decline in the shipments of petroleum, leather, engineering goods and gems and jewellery items, according to the government data released on September 15.

The country's imports too declined 26 percent to $29.47 billion in August, leaving a trade deficit of $6.77 billion, compared to a shortfall of $13.86 billion in the same month last year, as per the data. Oil imports declined by 41.62 percent to $6.42 billion in the month under review.

Gold imports jumped to $3.7 billion in August this year as against $1.36 billion in August 2019. During the April-August period, exports declined by 26.65 percent to $97.66 billion, while imports fell 43.73 percent to $118.38 billion.

Trade deficit during the period stood at $20.72 billion.