New Delhi: Growth rate of India's exports slipped to 5-month low of 2.35 percent in August at USD 26.95 billion, pushing up the trade deficit to USD 10.83 billion.
Gold imports jumped significantly to USD 2.03 billion last month, from USD 738.7 million a year ago.
Exporters body FIEO attributed the poor performance of exports to slowdown in European markets.
"The situation in EU is still bad. The exporters are waiting for the new foreign trade policy. We are expecting measures to boost exports," FIEO president Rafeeq Ahmed said.
Trade deficit in August was highest in the last four months. It was USD 10 billion in April when exports had recorded a low growth of 5.26 percent.
According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry data, overall imports grew only 2.08 percent to USD 37.79 billion.
Exports in May and June had registered a growth of 12.4 percent and 10.22 percent respectively. In July, export growth slipped further to 7.33 percent.
For the April-August period - first five months of the current fiscal - exports have grown 7.31 percent to USD 134.79 billion. Imports, however, have dipped by 2.69 percent to USD 190.94 billion.
Trade deficit during the five months has reached USD 56.15 billion, lower than USD 70.6 billion in the year-ago period.
Oil imports declined by 14.97 percent in August to USD 12.83 billion. However, non-oil imports during the month were up by 13.82 percent to USD 24.95 billion.
Due to restrictions on gold imports, gems and jewellery exports dipped by 10.31 percent to USD 3.23 billion in August. Similarly, overseas shipments of electronic goods declined by 17.67 percent to USD 547 million.
The other exporting sectors which recorded negative growth in August include tea, coffee, rice, tobacco, spices, oil meals, iron ore and petroleum products.
However, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering exports registered a growth of 7 percent, 2.66 percent and 22.2 percent respectively.
As for imports, sectors which recorded negative growth include fertiliser, coal, petroleum, transport equipment, project goods and silver.
