India’s trade deficit rises with 25 countries

Commerce & Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament that there has been a rise in India’s trade deficit with 25 countries in the last 3 years. These include South Korea (US$ 12 billion), Japan (US$ 7.9 billion), Germany (US$ 6.25 billion), Iraq (US$ 20.58 billion) and Saudi Arabia (US$ 22.9 billion). Higher imports of commodities such as crude oil, electronic goods, iron and steel, chemicals, coke, fertilisers and machinery were responsible for the widening of India’s trade deficit. These goods cumulatively formed about 70% of India’s total imports in 2018-19.

To address this issue, the government has tried to improve ease of doing business, launched a scheme for development of trade-related infrastructure, and a scheme to mitigate disadvantage of higher cost of transportation.