Electronics trade deficit reaches record $56 billion in FY12

The trade deficit in electronics widened to a record $56 billion in fiscal 2012, as both imports and exports hit fresh peaks, adding to the pressure on the country’s current account at a time when rising oil prices had already hit the import bill. is extended.

After oil and petroleum products, electronics remains the second largest contributor to the country’s overall merchandise trade deficit.
Electronics exports grew 41% to $15 billion in the last fiscal, while imports grew 35 percent to $70.8 billion, according to commerce ministry data. Earlier, in FY19, the trade deficit had reached a record level of $ 47 billion.

However, the deficit is going to narrow in the coming years, as exports will continue to grow at a faster pace, riding on the various production-linked incentive schemes announced for the sector, a senior government official told FE.

A major chunk of imports in FY22, the official said, include electronics components and the growth in purchases of telecom equipment, including mobile phones, is negligible. It also means that domestic value addition is increasing.

In fiscal 2012 alone, imports of electronics components rose 67% to $25.6 billion, while imports of computer hardware and peripherals jumped 45.4% to $15.2 billion. Similarly, imports of consumer electronics increased 27.7% to $5.8 billion, while imports of electronics components and telecommunications equipment rose 21.4% and 2.3% to $9 billion and $15.2 billion, respectively.

Similarly, electronics exports were driven by a 66% jump in the telecom equipment segment, which includes mobile phones, which accounted for $7.4 billion or nearly half of the country’s total electronics supply in the last fiscal. Exports of consumer electronics grew 33% to $0.9 billion, while exports of electronics components and electronics components grew by 17.5% and 23% to $3.3 billion and $3 billion, respectively. Exports of computer hardware and peripherals grew 32% to $415 million in the last fiscal year.