ENS Economic Bureau By

NEW DELHI:India’s exports are still not out of the woods, with as many as 23 key sectors, including petroleum, engineering, some cereals and leather, are in the red during August month-on-month basis.

As per the data, 23 out of 30 sectors closely monitored by the Ministry of Commerce were in the negative zone last month, primarily due to falling oil prices, subdued demand and domestic demand downturn.

Exports fell 20.66 per cent in August to $21.26 billion, pushing up the trade deficit to $12.47 billion. The poor show has prompted trade bodies to raise concerns, as it will impact jobs and put pressure on the current account deficit (CAD).

In August, the top two sectors - engineering and petroleum products - contracted 29 per cent and 47.88 per cent, respectively. Textiles exports too shrank by about 7.32 per cent to $1.28 billion in August. These three sectors make up for about 47 per cent of the country’s total exports in 2014-15, when it stood at $310.5 billion.

Similarly, agriculture products, which constitute over 10 per cent of the country’s total shipments, too recorded a negative growth during the month under review. Overall, 11 out of 13 main agriculture products slipped into negative territory.

Decline in these exports has been instrumental in dragging down India’s overall merchandise exports. In order to prop up exports, the Ministry had asked exporters to explore new markets and ship value-added products. It’s also involving states for a turnaround.

Exports of rice, spices and tobacco fell 26.32 per cent to $443 million, 8.7 per cent to $209 million and 15.25 per cent to $62 million, respectively.

Other products that have reported a negative growth include cereals (43.94 per cent), cashew (7.75 per cent), oil meals (19.5 per cent), carpet (22 per cent), leather (12.78 per cent), iron ore (34.28 per cent) and chemicals (5 per cent).

India is targeting exports of goods and services worth $900 billion by 2020 and raising the country’s share in world exports to 3.5 per cent from the current 2 per cent. Exports in the past four financial years have been hovering at about $300 billion.