India's exports up 10.1% in January 2012

New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) India's exports grew in January 2012 by 10.1 per cent year-on-year to USD 25.4 billion despite a weak demand in the western markets. Imports rose by 20.3 per cent to USD 40.1 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 14.7 billion, India’s Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here while giving the provisional figures today. According to Khullar, the problems in the US and Europe are clearly weighing down on the country's exports. The exports aggregated to USD 242.8 billion during the first ten months of the 2011-12 fiscal (April-January) showing a healthy growth of 23.5 per cent, thanks to sterling trends witnessed in the previous months of the current fiscal. Imports grew by 29.4 per cent during April-January 2011-12 to USD 391.5 billion leaving a trade gap of USD 148.7 billion. "What you are looking at now, is exports for the fiscal of around USD 300 billion, imports at about USD 460 billion with a balance of trade (trade deficit) of about USD 160 billion," Khullar said. "Imports are still buoyant because of high prices of crude oil and vegetable oil... Trade deficit is large but my guess is that it will narrow down in the next two months," he added. PTI