NEW DELHI: India’s goods exports remained flat at $35.1 billion in June, while imports dipped 3.8 per cent to $53.9 billion, helping narrow the trade deficit to a four-month low of $18.8 billion, latest data released Tuesday showed.Imports dipped due to a sharp fall in shipment of gold (down 26 per cent to $1.8 billion), crude petroleum (down 8.4 per cent to $13.8 billion) and diamond imports and coal. On the other hand, exports remained flat, despite a 16 per cent decline in the export of petroleum products.

Cumulative exports – goods and services – rose 6.6 per cent to $68 billion, driven by a 14 per cent rise in services to $32.8 billion, making govt upbeat on the overall trend. Combined imports were almost flat at $71.5 billion, resulting in the trade deficit halving to $3.5 billion in June from $7.2 billion a year ago. “If the growth continues like this, then we are going to cross the last year’s exports figures,” said commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal. He said that geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainties were impacting exports and govt was engaging with exporters to resolve these logistics and risk management issues.“This performance has come despite challenging global conditions,” said Fieo president S C Ralhan.