India's October exports grew 9.5 percent from a year earlier, slowing from September due to less than expected global demand, but the trade deficit widened on costly oil imports, data showed on Wednesday. Exports totalled $5.95 billion in October compared with $5.43 billion a year earlier, because of lower than expected pre-Christmas order from the United States and the European Union, which combined take more than half of India's exports.
The latest export growth was lower than 17 percent in the year through September, 28 percent in August data and 18 percent in July data, but the commerce minister said the 16 percent annual growth target would be met.
"It could be purely cyclical," Kamal Nath told a news conference. "There are pluses and minuses month after month."