India’s exports declined 3.15% in March, limiting the growth rate for 2013-14 to about 4% and falling short of the annual target by about $13 billion even as the trade deficit improved on shrinking gold imports. According to exporters, outbound shipments were affected by both domestic and global factors. In March, exports contracted 3.15% to $29.57 billion and imports fell 2.11% to $40 billion from a year earlier. The trade deficit last month was at $10.5 billion compared with $10.4 billion in March 2013.

India’s exports grew 3.98% to $312.35 billion in 2013-14, while imports dipped 8.11% to $450.94 billion, narrowing the trade deficit to $138.59 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

After feeble signs of a recovery, industrial production once again slipped into negative territory and contracted 1.9% in February due to poor performance in manufacturing, especially capital goods. Factory output as measured by the index of industrial production (IIP) showed a decline of 0.1% during the 11-month period from April to February, compared with growth of 0.9% in the corresponding period a year earlier. Industrial output started to decline in October, when the Index of Industrial Production contracted 1.2%, and continued till December, as per CSO data released on Friday

REFRENCE

The Central statistical organization (C.S.O): C.S.O belongs to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation(MOSPI). It was set up in May 1951 in the Cabinet Secretariat with the primary object of providing technical leader ship in building up the statistical system in the country. The Central Statistics Office is responsible for coordination of statistical activities in the country, and evolving and maintaining statistical standards. Its activities include National Income Accounting; conduct of Annual Survey of Industries, Economic Censuses and its follow up surveys, compilation of Index of Industrial Production, as well as Consumer Price Indices for Urban Non-Manual Employees, Human Development Statistics, Gender Statistics, imparting training in Official Statistics, Five Year Plan work relating to Development of Statistics in the States and Union Territories; dissemination of statistical information, work relating to trade, energy, construction, and environment statistics, revision of National Industrial Classification, etc. It has a well-equipped Graphical Unit.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP): it can bedefined as a summary measure that  measures the changes in the volume of industrial production of a representative basket  of industrial products during a particular period with respect to a chosen base period. It is an abstract number, the magnitude of which represents the status of production in the industrial sector for a given period of time as compared to a reference period of time It is a statistical device which enables us to arrive at a single representative figure to measure the general level of industrial activity in the economy. When the index was commenced in India, the base year adopted was 1937 and this was revised successively to 1946, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1970, 1980-81 and 1993-94.

A trade deficit occurs when the value of a country’s imports is greater than the value of its exports. This means that the country’s balance of trade is negative.

Capital Goods refer to products that are used in the production of other products but are not incorporated into the new product. These include machine tools, industrial machinery, process plant equipment, construction & mining equipment, electrical equipment, textile machinery, printing & packaging machinery etc. The Capital Goods industry is the “mother” of all manufacturing industry and is of strategic importance to the National security and economic independence. It is in the interest of the User Sectors that the Capital Goods industry should be strengthened since it is a known fact that the presence of a strong domestic industry increases competition and helps in reducing the capital cost of the project and most important, the maintenance of plant and machinery can be done economically.