India's exports contracted in the financial year which has just ended, despite a sharp decline in the value of the rupee and efforts to turn the country into a manufacturing hub, data showed Thursday. Exports in the 2012/13 financial year fell by 1.76 percent on an annual basis to $300 billion, stretching the trade deficit to $190.91 billion.
"Despite the competitive advantage of a depreciation of our currency, our exports have not performed better," Commerce Secretary S.R. Rao lamented at a press conference called to announce the figures. The figures serve as another warning light for the Indian economy, which is growing at its slowest pace in a decade due to high inflation and borrowing costs as well as low corporate confidence. Annual growth is expected to be almost half the stellar levels of the previous decade at about 5.0 percent in the 2012/13 financial year, denting the re-election prospects of the Congress-led government ahead of polls next year.