NEW DELHI: India's May exports rose for the seventh straight month in May, growing an annual 35 per cent to $16.1 billion, the government said on Thursday.
Imports rose 38.5 per cent to $27.4 billion, widening the country's trade deficit to $11.3 billion. April-May exports, the first two months of the fiscal year, rose 35.7 per cent to $33 billion while oil imports for May rose an annual 66.7 per cent to $8.84 billion.
Asia's third-largest economy is targeting close to 15 per cent export growth in the current fiscal year. India's exports dropped 4.7 per cent in the 2009/10 fiscal year as the global slowdown crimped demand.
Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, who released May's provisional trade data in mid-June, said demand has picked up for India's iron ore, oil and leather goods, but the 35 per cent jump in exports was flattered by a low level of shipments in 2009.
The trade deficit was the highest since November 2008, spurred by high demand for oil as well as iron and steel to fuel India's fast-paced industrial growth, Khullar had said.
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