India’s exports posted a healthy rise in November after a sharp fall in October, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday, indicating that outbound shipments had regained momentum despite global volatility. He did not reveal the numbers, with the commerce ministry set to release official data on December 15.According to PTI, Goyal said merchandise shipments had strengthened across categories. “Merchandise exports are also on a strong wicket. Merchandise exports went down in October. Incidentally, November has gone up by a greater amount than what went down in October. If I aggregate October and November, there is growth in merchandise exports despite the global turmoil,” he told reporters.The minister said India is working towards deeper integration with global trading partners through ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with countries and regions including the US, European Union, New Zealand, Oman, Chile and Peru. “In the months and days to come, you will hear a lot more about our own successful engagements with many of our trading countries,” he said.On the rupee’s sharp slide to a historic low of 90.15 against the US dollar on Wednesday, Goyal said the broader economic picture remained robust. “The growth is at 8.2 per cent in Q2, beating all estimates. We have seen the lowest-ever inflation in the last few months. Foreign exchange reserves continue to be strong. Capital inflows and investments in infrastructure, consumer spending, and all the levers of the economy have demonstrated a great deal of positivity,” he said.October’s export contraction of 11.8 per cent to $34.38 billion, driven by higher US tariffs, widened the trade deficit to a record $41.68 billion due to a surge in gold imports. For April–October this fiscal year, exports rose 0.63 per cent to $254.25 billion, while imports increased 6.37 per cent to $451.08 billion, PTI reported.
