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Think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) in a report has said that a healthy growth in India’s services segments has helped India's foreign trade (exports and imports of merchandise and services) to cross the $800 billion mark during the first half of 2023, despite a slowdown in global demand. India's foreign trade reached $800.9 billion during January-June 2023, exhibiting a decline of 2.5 per cent over the same period last year (January-June 2022). 

According to the analysis of the GTRI, exports of goods and services rose by 1.5 per cent to $385.4 billion during January-June this year, as against $379.5 billion in January-June 2022. Imports, however, dipped by 5.9 per cent to $415.5 billion during the six months of this year, as against $441.7 billion in January-June 2022. Standalone, goods exports dipped by 8.1 per cent to $218.7 billion, while imports contracted by 8.3 per cent to $325.7 billion. On the other hand, services exports during the six months period grew by 17.7 per cent to $166.7 billion, while imports rose by 3.7 per cent to $89.8 billion.

GTRI Co-founder Ajay Srivastava has stated that data is showing modest decline due to weak global demand and losing competitiveness in labour intensive sectors. The decline in merchandise exports happened despite appreciating INR (Indian Rupee). INR/USD exchange rate appreciated from 76.16 in April 2022 to 82.18 in Apr 2023. He said the world trade outlook for 2023 is weak due to a number of factors, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, high inflation, tighter monetary policy, and financial uncertainty. However, he cautioned that these factors will soon be overshadowed by a spate of new subsidies and protectionist measures by the EU and US.