India's visible trade deficit for December narrowed from a year ago, as imports fell more than exports amid the falling oil prices, data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed Thursday.
The merchandise trade deficit contracted to $9.434 billion from $10.187 billion in the same month last year.
Imports dropped 4.78 percent annually and exports fell 3.77 percent. Oil imports tumbled 28.6 percent from a year ago, while non-oil imports grew 9.9 percent.
In the April to December period, the country registered a trade deficit of $110.051 billion versus $107.077 billion a year ago. Exports grew 4.02 percent and imports increased 3.63 percent with oil imports falling 4.7 percent.
Earlier today, the Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates in a surprise move citing a fall in inflation in recent months, mainly due to lower crude oil prices.
Today's decision came ahead of the bank's scheduled meeting on February 3 and the government's annual budget announcement in late February.
"With lower external vulnerabilities, interest rates do not need to stay as high to continue attracting foreign capital," Capital Economics India economist Shilan Shah said.
"As such, this further supports our view that the RBI will follow up today's rate cut with more monetary easing over the coming months."
The economist also noted that a feared surge in gold imports after the curbs were lifted on November 28 failed to materialize.
"One possible explanation is that, prior to the removal of restrictions, there had been rumors circulating that restrictions would actually be tightened. This may have caused local jewelers to pre-emptively purchase gold in November," Shah added.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.