India Trade deficit increased furthur

February 2012 Trade data is now out and as usual the Trade deficit has gone upward. Each Month our Exports are much less as against our Import. Export has registered a marginal YOY growth of 4.3% (USD 24.6 bn.).  On the other hand Import to India has grown by 20% (USD 39.8 bn). So till Feb end of FY12 Export stood at USD267 Billion and Import stood at USD434 Billion leading to a Trade deficit of USD 166.7 ban as against USD 115.3 ban during the same period previous year. In Export side Petroleum products & Engineering goods have done significant growth. In the Import side crude imports stood at USD 132.6 bn, growing by hooping 41.0% YoY, Other leading Import item is Gold & silver which rose by 39% to USD55 Billion. As the Government has increased the Import duty of Gold two times in the recent past it is expected that Gold Import may cool down in FY13. But the Crude oil Import amount may increase substantially if the Crude Oil price goes up which is very likely due to prevailing tension between USA & Iran.