Goods exports grow slower than services as India sets new record of $770 bn in FY23

Indian goods and services exports set a new record of $770.18 billion in 2022-23, 13.84% higher than $676 billion the previous year, initial estimates by the Commerce Ministry indicate.

While goods exports grew 6.03% year on year to touch $422 billion, services exports are estimated to have grown 26.79% to touch $322.72 billion in 2022-23. Since the export data for services sector released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) comes with a time lag (the latest available data is for February 2023), the services figures projected by the ministry for March 2023 is an estimation, and will be revised based on RBI’s subsequent release.

Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal termed India's export performance as a big achievement, given the global macroeconomic conditions that have slowed down economic growth in most parts of the world.

Under merchandise exports, 17 of the 30 key sectors exhibited positive growth during 2022-23 as compared to 2021-22. These include oil meals (55.13%), electronic goods (50.52%), petroleum products (40.1%), tobacco (31.37%), oil seeds (20.13%), rice (15.22%), fruits & vegetables (11.19%), marine products (3.93%) and drugs & pharmaceuticals (3.25%).

India's overall imports in 2022-23 also grew, and are estimated to be $ 892.18 billion, 17.38% higher than $ 760.06 billion in 2021-22. 

For the month of March 2023, India’s overall exports (goods and services combined) are estimated to be $ 66.14 billion, 7.53% lower than the corresponding month the previous year. Overall imports estimated to be $ 72.18 billion, also declined 7.98% over March 2022. 

The goods exports in March 2023 were $ 38.38 Billion, 13.89% lower than $44.57 billion in March 2022. Goods imports for March 2023 were $58.1 billion, 7.9% lower than $63.09 billion in March 2022. Among the 13 of the 30 key goods sectors that exhibited positive growth in March 2023, exports of electronic goods increased by 57.36% during March 2023 at $2.86 billion as compared to $1.82 billion in March 2022. During 2022-23, electronic goods exports were recorded at $ 23.57 billion as compared to $15.66 billion the previous year.