India: Exports continue their uptrend in March - Nomura

The research team at Nomura explains that the Indian export growth accelerated sharply to a six-and-a-half-year high of 27.6% y-o-y in March from 17.5% y-o-y in February.

Key Quotes

“The pick-up was fairly broad-based across oil and non-oil exports. Import growth rose even faster at 45.3% y-o-y, again led by a broad-based pickup in oil, gold and core (ex-oil, gold) imports. As a result, the trade deficit widened in contrast to the seasonal narrowing seen historically.”

“Overall, the trade data suggest that stronger global demand and higher export prices are driving an exports recovery, while the recovery in imports reflects higher commodity prices and a likely improvement in domestic demand, particularly consumption, due to ongoing remonetisation. We expect the current account deficit to widen to 1.6% of GDP in 2017 from 0.5% in 2016.”