India's trade deficit widens 40.5pc
Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
India's trade deficit widened 40.5 percent in the fiscal year that ended in March this year to 56.74 billion dollars while business insiders said a hardening rupee would hit exports further in the months to come.Government statistics released on Tuesday showed economic growth has seen the trade deficit grow over the past few months and stood at 5.78 billion dollars in January as against 5.68 billion dollars in December last year. The trade deficit in March this year fell to 3.8 billion dollars from 4.66 billion dollars in February due to slow import growth, taking the full year's deficit to 56.73 billion dollars in the entire financial year. Exports for the full financial year (2006-7) stood at 124.63 billion dollars, up 21 percent compared with 103.6 billion dollars in 2005-6 while imports rose 26.45 percent at 181.37 billion dollars compared with 143.43 billion dollars in the corresponding financial year.
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