Question: Going by the India’s Foreign Trade Data, India’s overall trade balance in 2016 has-
(a) worsen
(b) improved
(c) unchanged
(d) None of the above.
Ans:(b)
- In consonance with the revival exhibited by exports in the last three months, during December,2016 exports continue to show a positive growth of 5.72 per cent (valued at US$ 23884.97 million) and 7.79 per cent in Rupee terms (valued at Rs. 162179.89 crore) as compared to US$ 22593.35 million (Rs. 150461.57 crore) during December,2015.
- Cumulative value of exports for the period April-December 2016-17 was US$ 198807.75 million (Rs. 1333913.57 crore) as against US$ 197333.62 million (Rs. 1278004.37 crore) registering a positive growth of 0.75 per cent in Dollar terms and positive growth of 4.37 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.
- Non-petroleum exports in December 2016 were valued at US$ 21117.73 million against US$ 20036.19 million in December 2015, an increase of 5.4 %. Non-petroleum exports during April – December 2016-17 were valued at US$ 176831.24 million as compared to US$ 172960.12 million for the corresponding period in 2015, an increase of 2.2%.
- The growth in exports is negative for USA (-1.21%), China (-7.45%) and EU (-6.27%) but exhibited positive growth in case of Japan (3.79%) for October 2016 over the corresponding period of previous year as per latest WTO statistics.
- Imports during December 2016 were valued at US$ 34254.32 million (Rs. 232588.18 crore) which was 0.46 per cent higher in Dollar terms and 2.43 per cent higher in Rupee terms over the level of imports valued at US$ 34096.49 million (Rs. 227067.28 crore) in December, 2015.
- Cumulative value of imports for the period April-December 2016-17 was US$ 275355.92 million (Rs. 1848099.10 crore) as against US$ 297410.85 million (Rs. 1926024.55 crore) registering a negative growth of 7.42 per cent in Dollar terms and 4.05 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period last year.
- Oil imports during December, 2016 were valued at US$ 7645.42 million which was 14.61 percent higher than oil imports valued at US$ 6670.61 million in December 2015.
- Oil imports during April-December, 2016-17 were valued at US$ 60921.83 million which was 10.76 per cent lower than the oil imports of US$ 68267.37 million in the corresponding period last year.
- Non-oil imports during December, 2016 were estimated at US$ 26608.90 million which was 2.98 per cent lower than non-oil imports of US$ 27425.88 million in December, 2015.
- Non-oil imports during April-December 2016-17 were valued at US$ 214434.09 million which was 6.42 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at US$ 229143.48 million in April-December, 2015-16.
- TRADE IN SERVICES (for November, 2016, as per the RBI)
- EXPORTS (Receipts)
- Exports during November 2016 were valued at US$ 13338 Million (Rs. 90199.16 Crore) registering a positive growth of 1.72 per cent in dollar terms as compared to negative growth of 4.79 per cent during October 2016.
- IMPORTS (Payments)
- Imports during November 2016 were valued at US$ 8323 Million (Rs. 56284.87 Crore) registering a positive growth of 8.37 per cent in dollar terms as compared to negative growth of 7.51 per cent during October 2016.
- TRADE BALANCE
- The trade deficit for April-December, 2016-17 was estimated at US$ 76548.17 million which was 23.51% lower than the deficit of US$ 100077.23 million during April-December, 2015-16.
- As per RBI’s Press Release dated 13th January 2017, the trade balance in Services (i.e. net export of Services) for November, 2016 was estimated at US$ 5015 million.
- The net export of services for April- November, 2016-17 was estimated at US$ 42806 million which is lower than net export of services of US$ 46706 million during April- November, 2015-16.
- Overall the trade balance has improved. Taking merchandise and services together, overall trade deficit for April- December 2016-17 is estimated at US$ 33742.17 million which is 36.78 percent lower in Dollar terms than the level of US$ 53371.23 million during April-December 2015-16.
Reference:
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=157333
https://www.rbi.org.in/