March exports rise 60%, trade deficit widens

The country’s exports jumped 60.3% to $34.45 billion in March even as the outbound shipments contracted by 7.26% during the 2020-21 fiscal to $290.63 billion.

Imports too grew 53.7% to $48.38 billion in March, but showed an 18% decline to $389.18 billion during April-March 2020-21, according to government data released on Thursday.

Trade deficit during March widened to $13.93 billion from $9.98 billion a year earlier. The trade deficit during the full fiscal, however, narrowed to $98.56 billion as against $161.35 billion during 2019-20, the data showed.