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  January 6th, 2016 | Written by

Export Crisis in India Non-Existent, Says Government

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  • When India’s export numbers are crunched, the drop is really negligible, according to the Indian government.
  • Indian petroleum product exports fell by 52 percent thanks to the sharp drop in the price of crude oil.
  • Indian exports of gems and jewelry fell by 9.5 percent because of decline the price of gold.
  • The declines in Indian exports are a reflection of changing import prices, according to a government analysis.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry says there is no cause for alarm from the recent decline in country’s exports.

The declines were limited to exports of petroleum, gems, and jewelry, the ministry statement said. Outside of those sectors, there has been no significant decline in India’s exports.

At issue was the release of statistics showing a decline of 18.5 percent in Indian exports between April and November 2015.

The Indian government’s analysis seeks to explain the decline in light of a steep fall in prices in specific commodity and product sectors. Petroleum product exports fell by 52 percent, occasioned by sharp drop in the price of crude oil.

Exports of gems and jewelry fell by 9.5 percent. In this case there was a significant decline the price of gold. The declines in exports are a reflection of changing import prices, according to the Indian government.

The ministry also pointed out that non-oil and non-gem exports declines by only 9.6 percent in terms of U.S. dollars and by only 3.7 percent in terms of Indian rupees.

Some export sectors have actually shown increases, including garments, carpets, handicrafts, drugs and pharmaceuticals, ceramic products and glassware, tea, and cereals.

Further, the government says the decline in the Wholesale Price Index should also be factored into the picture. When a negative WPI inflation rate of 3.3 percent is taken into account, the fall in exports turns out to be negligible in volume terms.

Interestingly, the latest Index of Industrial Production figures for October 2015 in India show healthy growth at 9.8 percent over the previous year. For the period April to October 2015 growth in IIP was 4.8 percent, more than double the growth recorded during the corresponding period of 2014.