Oil imports registered a a sharp rise of 53.44 per cent at $ 2.02 billion in April-June 1999 even as non-oil imports declined by 3 per cent at $ 8.3 billion.

Cumulative exports in the first quarter of the current fiscal grew by 6.5 per cent at $ 7.9 billion against $ 7.49 billion in April-June 1998, the monthly trade data released by the government said. This is the second month in a row that exports have witnessed a double digit growth. In May 1999 the growth rate rose to 11.68 per cent May last year. In rupee terms, exports grew by 12.09 per cent in the first quarter.

Imports during June represented a growth of 21.81 per cent at $ 3.64 billion against $ 2.98 billion in the same period last year. India's imports in the first quarter are estimated $ 10.35 billion, an increase of4.52 per cent that the level of 9.9 billion dollars in the same period last year. The sharp increase was in contrast to the 1.64 per cent growth seen in the preceding month of May.

The commerce ministry has fixed an export growth target of 11 per cent in dollar terms for the current fiscal based on a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

During the Eighth Plan, exports registered a growth of over 18 per cent to 21 per cent in dollar terms only during 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96. In the remaining two years, the growth was 3.8 per cent in 1992-93 and 4.01 per cent in 1996-97. The export growth rate decelerated by 1.5 per cent in 1991-92, while imports declined due to import compression measures.

The export growth recorded in the first year of the Ninth Plan (1997-98) was by far the lowest.