This Article First Appeared In The Print On Feb 24, 2023
India’s merchandise trade deficit dropped to a 12-month low of $17.7 billion in January, while the services trade surplus surged to a record high of $16.5 billion. The combination of shrinking merchandise trade deficit and robust services trade surplus will help in moderating the current account deficit for the present financial year.
The surplus on the services trade is being led by robust services exports. In December, 2022 services exports jumped by more than $4 billion as compared to that in the previous month. The momentum of strong services exports was sustained in January as well. Despite global headwinds, India’s overall exports (merchandise plus services) registered a positive growth of 14.58 per cent in January 2023, over the same period last year.