India's October trade deficit widens to $27 billion as exports slump 17%

The fall in exports in October was due to a largely across-the-board fall in commodity exports, with cotton yarn/handloom products down 46 percent, gems and jewellery exports down 22 percent, and engineering goods down 21 percent, among others.

However, external demand for electronic goods was robust, as their exports surged 38 percent year-on-year to $1.85 billion.

Among imports, it was petroleum products that led the charge, rising 29 percent on a year-on-year basis to $15.85 billion in October.

So far this financial year, import of petroleum products is up 60 percent at $130.98 billion, thanks to the surge in global energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Another key import, fertiliser, saw a huge jump in October, posting a stunning 161 percent increase to $2.11 billion.

Import of gold was down 27 percent in October at $3.7 billion. For April-October, gold imports stood at $23.97 billion, down 17 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.

While India continued to suffer on the merchandise front, trade in services prospered.

In October, the surplus from trade in services was 41 percent higher compared to the same month last year, coming in at $12.28 billion. This was on the back of a 40 percent increase in both services exports and imports - the former to $28.58 billion and the latter to $16.3 billion.

For April-October, the services trade surplus amounts to $74.94 billion, up 25 percent from last year.

Netting the services trade surplus with the merchandise trade deficit, India ran a deficit of $14.63 billion in October, which was up 59 percent from October 2021. For April-October, the figure is $98.52 billion, up nearly three times the year-ago figure of $34.05 billion.