For the April-October period of the current financial year, total exports declined by 5.08%. Shipments from the country during April-October was estimated at $ 18.87 billion against $ 19.88 billion during the same period a year ago.

However, exports showed a rise in rupee terms increasing by 3.26% during October and by 10.28% during the April-October period. Imports, on the other hand, increased by 8.06% to $ 3.37 billion against $ 3.12 billion during the corresponding period last year.

For the April-October period, imports were estimated at $ 24.67 billion, up by 9.35%, against shipments into the country totalling $ 22.56 billion during the same period last year. As a resultof the dip in exports, trade deficit increased to $ 5.80 billion during April-October this year against $ 2.68 billion during the same period a year ago.

The decline in export growth was against a 3.28% slide during the first half of the current financial. Exports from India has been on the downswing since the beginning of current fiscal and commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde has blamed south-east Asian meltdown and global recession as main reasons for it.

He has also attributed the decline to infrastructural problems in exports. Whereas imports was a little lower than the 10.06% registered during the first half of the fiscal.

During April-October, oil imports declined by 26.19%, a clear pointer towards recession hitting the transport sector. Oil imports during the period was put at $ 3.47 billion against $ 4.70 billion during the same period a year ago.

Non-oil imports during the period were estimated at $ 21.20 billion, up by 18.71% against imports to the tune of $ 17.86 billion duringcorresponding period last year.