India has trade deficit with 80 countries: Sharma

New Delhi: India had trade deficit with as many as 80 countries, including China, Australia and Iraq, in 2012-13, Parliament was informed Monday.

"India has a trade deficit with 80 countries in 2012-13. Top ten countries are China, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Venezuela, Nigeria, Australia, and Indonesia," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

"Contribution of trade deficit of these ten countries to our trade deficit is 76.5 percent," he said.

India's exports during 2012-13 stood at USD 300.3 billion, while imports aggregated at USD 491.9 billion. Trade deficit stood at USD 191.6 billion.

He said that the global economic crisis, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the slowdown in developed economies have adversely impacted demand for India's exports.

"The international prices of petroleum, fertilisers, gold, edible oil have increased. Their demand has also increased. These lead to a higher value of imports. As a result, the trade deficit has increased," he added.

Sharma said that the government has received various representations from trade bodies to give impetus to exports.

"Several steps have been taken to reduce trade deficit by imposing restrictions on import of gold," he added.

The government has recently announced to enhance rate of interest subsidy to 3 percent from 2 percent.

PTI