The country's exports jumped by more than a quarter in November, the trade secretary said, and a surge in the sales of cars, oil products and gems signals Asia's third-largest economy could trump its 2010/11 export target.
The country can also cheer a trade deficit that has shrunk to an eight-month low of $8.9 billion in November, helped by a slower growth in oil imports, after hitting a 23-month high in August that had put pressure on its current account deficit.
The nation's exports for the current fiscal year to end-March 2011 will probably touch $210 billion to $215 billion, compared with an earlier target of $200 billion, even though the euro zone debt crisis has started biting into the demand for Indian goods.
There has been been a significant turnaround in engineering goods, which includes car sales, with a growth rate of nearly 50% since April, Rahul Khullar told reporters.
"There is a huge amount of positive growth virtually everywhere."
The country's exports in November rose an annual 26.8% to $18.9 billion, while imports for the month grew 11.2% on the year to $27.8 billion, provisional data released by Khullar on Wednesday showed.
{{/usCountry}}The country's exports in November rose an annual 26.8% to $18.9 billion, while imports for the month grew 11.2% on the year to $27.8 billion, provisional data released by Khullar on Wednesday showed.
{{/usCountry}}He said the figures were likely to be revised upwards.
The country's trade deficit in November stood at $8.9 billion compared with $9.7 billion in October.
The country's trade deficit in August had widened to $13.06 billion and Khullar had said then that the deficit could touch $135 billion in the current fiscal year, higher than his earlier forecast for $120 billion.
But on Wednesday he lowered his estimate back to $120 billion based on current trends. A spike in global oil prices could again prompt a revision, he warned.
Oil imports slowed to a growth of 2.3% in November from the double digit growth seen earlier in the year, but Khullar said the figure would probably rise in December and January.