Rahul Gandhi takes aim at BJP over trade deficit: ‘Govt prioritises crony businesses’

Tagging a media report which said that trade deficit and imports are at an all-time high, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha hit out at the government.

“What happens when a government prioritises crony businesses over play-fair businesses? Result: Weakened manufacturing sector, depreciating currency, record high trade deficits, high interest rates, falling consumption and soaring inflation,” he said in a post on X.

Gandhi and Congress have repeatedly accused the government of crony capitalism. The opposition demanded a debate in parliament over issues pertaining to industrialist Gautam Adani during the ongoing winter session. It also resulted in a washout of a major chunk of the session.

Opposition MPs found new ways to protest over the issue like carrying dark blue “jholas” with caricatures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani printed on one side and “Modi-Adani Bhai-Bhai” written on the obverse.

The high trade deficit

After recording double-digit growth in October, India’s exports in November contracted by 4.85% year-on-year to $32.11 billion, while the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of $37.84 billion due to record surge in gold imports.

According to the commerce ministry data, imports rose by 27% year-on-year to a record $69.95 billion in November due to high inbound shipments of vegetable oil, fertiliser, and silver.

Gold imports during the month under review soared to an all-time high of $14.8 billion as against $3.5 billion in November 2023.

Cumulatively, during April-November this fiscal, exports increased by 2.17% to $284.31 billion and imports by 8.35% to $486.73 billion.

Trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, during April-November widened to $202.42 billion from $170.98 billion during April-November 2023.

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