Exports miss target again, dip by 0.08% in 2001-02

Considering that exports grew 21 per cent in 2000-01 and 12 per cent in the year before that, it is commendable that exports clocked around $44 billion, the same level as last year, he said.

Lakhanpal said exports for the fiscal 2001-02 could have been marginally better than the previous year if internal disruptions like the Gujarat incidents and the Mumbai truckers’ strike had not occurred. These incidents affected the normal movements of goods. “Moreover, since the Western region accounts for almost 25 per cent of the country’s trade, exports to the extent of around $1-2 billion were affected.

As per the provisional data released by the government on Wednesday, imports during the financial year ended March 2002 increased by 1.08 per cent to $50.6 billion, leading to a marginal increase in India’s trade deficit to $6.65 billion dollars as against $6.07 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier, an official release said here.

Significantly, trade deficit turned positive in March 2002 at $41.51 million due to sharp fall in imports by 6.76 per cent at $ .30 billion compared to $4.61 billion. India had a trade deficit of $303.63 million during March last year. Exports growth during March 2002 continued the dismal run of February, registering a growth of 0.78 per cent at $ 4.34 billion compared to $ 4.30 billion.