India's imports of sensitive items up by $208 mn

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) India's imports of sensitive items like fruits, cotton and automobiles were up Rs.9.74 ($207.52 million) in April-July this fiscal, said the ministry of commerce and industry here Friday.

The ministry said such imports in this period stood at Rs.9,696 crore or Rs.96.96 billion, compared to Rs.8,722 crore or Rs.87.22 billion in the last corresponding period.

"It shows an increase of 11.2 percent," said the ministry in a statement.

The ministry said the gross import of all commodities during the same period of the current fiscal was Rs.421,541 crore (Rs.4,215 billion) as compared to Rs.306,946 crore (Rs.3.069 billion) during the corresponding period last year.

An increase in import of sensitive items can be worrisome for policy makers, as India's imports had exceeded exports by $13.94 billion in August this year, which may inflate the country's current account deficit (CAD) if the trend is not reversed in coming months.

The CAD is a reflection of the trade situation when imports exceed exports. The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (EAC) has estimated CAD at 3.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal, as against 1.5 percent in 2007-08.

According to the ministry, non-oil imports this August were estimated at $18.98 billion, 39.6 percent higher than non-oil imports of $13.6 billion the same month last year.

"The non-oil imports during April-August this year were at $84.4 billion, which was 28.2 percent higher than the level of such imports of $65.85 billion in the last corresponding period," said the ministry in a statement.

It said the import in edible oil segment decreased to Rs.3,698 crore or Rs.36.98 billion in April-July this year, from Rs.3,777.8 crore or Rs.37.77 billion in the last corresponding period.

The ministry said the import of crude edible oil has gone down 4.7 percent, and that of refined was up 19.9 percent.

"The decrease in edible oil import is mainly due to significant fall in import of soya bean crude oil, which has gone down by 55 percent," said the ministry.

Imports of items like fruits and vegetables including nuts, cotton and silk, automobiles, products of small scale industries, spices, rubber, alcoholic beverages, marble and granite, and tea and coffee have shown an increase during the period under reference.

The imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, Myanmar, China, the US, Germany, Malaysia, Benin, Thailand, Australia, Egypt, Japan, Ghana, and Britain have gone up while those from Argentina, Canada, Sri Lanka and Brazil have declined, the ministry added.