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The country’s exports rose by about 6% to a record $447.46 billion during 2022-23 on account of healthy growth in the outbound shipments from sectors like petroleum, pharma and chemicals, according to the government data.

Service exports grew by 26.8% to an all-time high of $322.72 billion in 2022-23 against $254.53 billion in 2021-22.

The total goods and services exports during the last fiscal grew by 13.84% to $770.18 billion.

However, the merchandise exports in March dipped to $38.38 billion against $44.57 billion in the same month last year. Imports too declined to $58.11 billion in the month under review from $63 billion a year ago.

The trade deficit during March stood at $19.73 billion, the data showed.

The country’s imports in 2022-23 grew by 16.5% to $714.24 billion compared to $613 billion in 2021-22. The merchandise trade deficit for the last fiscal was estimated at $266.78 billion against $191.05 billion in 2021-22.

High oil imports pushed the overall inbound shipments in the last fiscal. Oil imports during the last fiscal rose by 29.5% to $209.6 billion. Gold imports, however, dipped by 24.15% to $35 billion.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the exports of goods and services together scaled “new heights” and have increased by 14% to $770 billion in 2022-23 against $676 billion in 2021-22.

“I am delighted to share with you the outstanding export performance for 2022-23, with India’s overall exports scaling new heights at $770 billion, registering 14 per cent growth over the previous year and an all-time high record growing from $500 billion in 2020-21 to $676 billion in 2021-22,” the minister told reporters here.

On the merchandise exports front, 17 of the 30 key sectors exhibited positive growth during 2022-23. The sectors include Oil Meals (55.13%), Electronic Goods (50.52%), Petroleum Products (40.1%), Tobacco (31.37%), Oil Seeds (20.13$), Rice (15.22%), Coffee (12.29%), Leather and Leather Products (8.47%), Marine Products (3.93%), Pharmaceuticals (3.25%) and Chemicals (3.23%).

Exports of Electronic goods increased by 57.36% during March 2023 at $2.86 billion. During 2022-23, these exports rose by over 50% to $23.57 billion.

India’s imports from Russia jumped by 369.44% to $46.33 billion in the last fiscal.

Goyal is on a three-day visit to France and Italy from April 11-13 to hold a series of meetings with leaders and top CEOs in these two countries to further boost trade and investment ties.

“This is truly a sign of India’s expanding our international footprints,” he added.

The overall imports of goods and services have touched $892 billion and it reflects that the country’s economic activities are growing and that has supported the exports.

Talking to reporters here, Goyal said that the growth in exports would help in containing the current account deficit.

In the services sector, there is healthy growth in areas including IT, accounting and business processing.

In the goods segment, sectors which recorded growth include oil meals, electronic goods, tobacco, oil seeds, rice, coffee, fruits and vegetables, leather goods, ceramic, pharma, marine products, chemicals, and ready-made garments of textiles.

Services imports are estimated at $178 billion in 2022-23 as against $147 billion a year ago.

Goyal said that the exports of goods and services have increased by about $100 billion to cross $770 billion in such challenging times when the world is seeing softening and slowing of international trade, recessionary conditions in the developed world, and unprecedented high inflation in many developed countries.

There were concerns because of the conflict in Russia and Ukraine; there were also concerns that piled-up inventories in the developed world may not help us achieve such a “stupendous” performance, he added.

“It is indeed a matter of satisfaction that we have grown both in goods and services,” he said, adding, “India is looking forward to engaging even more deeply with countries around the world with the developed world, and developing countries and contributing to the world’s progress and prosperity as we grow jobs in India, economic opportunities in India.”

“When we look at the overall economic scenario, where GST collections are high, where exports are at a record high, where inflation has come down… strong foreign exchange reserves exceeding $600 billion…clearly reflects the mood of the nation,” he added.

Goyal said that as the world moves into global value chains, India will look at expanding its footprint in both imports and exports.

The trade data also shows that the CAD (Current Account Deficit) will be very much under control given that “our” remittances have crossed $100 billion and a good inflow of investments, he added.

He also said that as the services trade data is an estimate, “I am expecting when the final numbers would come, India’s exports of goods and services may touch $772 billion”.

On fixing export targets for 2023-24, he said that the ministry will draw sectoral and country-wise specific plans, along with missions and come up with the current year targets and expectations.