India’s merchandise trade deficit widened to $18.71 billion in February from $17.49 billion in January, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

Notably, at $41.40 billion, India’s merchandise exports in February were the highest in 11 months.

The import growth of 12.2 per cent in February is the highest since September 2022’s 12.6 per cent.

For the February last year, the trade deficit stood at $16.57 billion.

The exports rose by 11.9 from the year-ago period to $41.40 billion and imports were up 12.2% at $60.11 billion.

Main drivers of merchandise export growth in February 2024 include Engineering Goods, Electronic Goods, Organic and Inorganic Chemicals, Drugs and Pharmaceuticals and Petroleum Products, the commerce ministry said.

Overall trade deficit improves by 37.80% from USD 116.13 Billion in April-February 2022-23 to USD 72.24 Billion in April-February 2023-24. the merchandise trade deficit improves by 8.43 per cent from USD 245.94 Billion in April-February 2022-23 to USD 225.20 Billion in April-February 2023-24.

In April-February 2023-24, India’s overall exports are estimated to be USD 709.81 Billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 0.83 per cent over April-February 2022-23.

Overall imports in April-February 2023-24 are estimated to be USD 782.05 Billion, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 4.64% over April-February 2022-23.

In February, the non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports were $29.97 Billion, compared to $25.57 Billion in February 2023. While their imports were $33.15 Billion, compared to $31.52 Billion in February 2023.

Under merchandise exports, 22 of the 30 key sectors exhibited positive growth as compared to same period last year.

As per the commerce ministry data, for April 2023-February 2024 as a whole, India’s trade deficit amounted to $225.20 billion, down from $245.94 billion in the first 11 months of 2022-23.

This exhibits a decline of 8.43 per cent on the trade gap on a year-on-year basis during this period.