India’s merchandise imports are expected to increase by about 16 per cent to reach $710 billion in the current financial year. Economic think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said in a report on Wednesday that the increase in imports of crude oil, coal, diamonds, chemicals and electronics is the reason for this.
GTRI said that India’s economy may be moderately affected by weak global demand and slowdown in major economies.
Six product categories, namely petroleum, crude oil, coal, coke, diamond, precious metals, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, plastics, electronics and machinery, account for 82 per cent of India’s total merchandise imports.
GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastava said, “India’s merchandise imports could touch $710 billion in the current financial year ending March 2023. This is about 15.8 percent higher than $ 613 billion in 2021-22. ”Srivastava said that the estimated value of petroleum imports will be $ 210 billion and this includes crude oil and LPG.
He told, “The import of raw material increased by 53 percent as compared to the last financial year. Imports from Russia increased by 850 percent in the last one year.
Whereas in 2022-23, the import of coke and coal is expected to reach $51 billion. India imports both coking coal and thermal coal.
The report said coking coal imports could cross $20.4 billion in the current fiscal, up 87 per cent over the previous year, and thermal coal could see a 105 per cent increase to $23.2 billion. India’s diamond imports are estimated to be $27.3 billion.
