Exports sinking in flood of imports: Big sign for India's economy?
The worrying news for india is that exports of goods have fallen for the third consecutive month. In january 2025, exports fell by 2.4% to $36.4 billion compared to last year, while a decline of 1% was also recorded in december 2024. The biggest reason for this decline is the export of crude oil, which has declined for the eighth consecutive month. Surprisingly, oil exports have declined despite Brent crude oil prices being lower than last year. Last year, the price of Brent crude oil was $80.2 per barrel, which has now come down to $79.2 per barrel.
However, exports of some items have increased. The overall decline was not much due to good growth in gems and jewellery (15.9%) and exports of key items (14.4%). On the other hand, imports of goods from other countries increased by 10.3% in january and reached $59.4 billion. Imports also increased by 4.9% in December.
Gold imports have increased by 40.8%, but this is less than the increase of 55.4% in December. gold prices have increased due to the environment of uncertainty in the world (increased by 33.2% to $2710 an ounce in january 2025, which was $2034 an ounce a year ago). Imports of key goods increased by 3.9% in december, which increased to 20.4% in January.
Decreasing exports: What is the sign for India's economy?
News spoke to indian economy expert Mohammad Shoaib on this. Mohammad Shoaib said, 'It is clearly visible that India is not able to increase its exports despite all efforts. The reason for this may be that india is not getting full support from its major trading partners. They are importing goods from other markets or the US tariffs may also have a negative impact on India.'
He also said that imports are increasing due to the increasing demand for gold. Whenever there is turmoil in the stock market, most people prefer to invest in gold. gold has always been a favorite commodity for investors, because there is not much loss in gold. It can be easily sold whenever you want. Not only in India, people all over the world are more inclined towards gold. China and russia are also continuously increasing their gold reserves. Now, people do not want to take much risk by investing in the stock market. That is why, despite the price of gold increasing so much, imports are also increasing continuously.
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