India's exports rise

India's exports rise

NEW DELHI (AFP): India's exports rose to US$26.2 billion in fiscal 1994-95 from $22.1 billion the previous year but imports also grew, Commerce Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said yesterday.

He told a news conference here that the fourth year of the free-market reforms begun by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had seen an unprecedented rise in exports, spurred by sharp gains in output.

"Our export performance is excellent," he said of the 18.3 percent rise in the financial year which ended on March 31. The minister declined to indicate the export target for the 1995-96 financial year to be set in June.

Imports rose from $23.2 billion in fiscal 1993-94 to $28.2 billion during the last financial year, Chidambaram said. "(The trade deficit) is not at all worrisome and within the manageable limit," he said.