Adding another positive factor to India's quick return to high growth, the country's exports rose a whopping 36.2 per cent in April. As suggested by official figures, Indian merchandise exports grew for the sixth consecutive month to $16.9 billion. Interestingly, before bouncing back in November last year exports had fallen for 13 straight months in a row.

Exports were at $12.4 billion in April last year. While exports fell 4.7 per cent owing to lack of demand in ace global markets like the US and Europe during the last fiscal, Indian government expects it to grow nearly 15 per cent in the current fiscal due to continuously improving global demand conditions.

Meanwhile, India's imports too registered a robust growth in April this year. On year-on-year basis imports in April rose 43.3 per cent to $27.3 billion from $19 billion in April 2009. Rise in global crude price as compared to the year-ago price remained the major driver for imports. While non-oil imports grew 34.3 per cent, oil imports grew 70.5 per cent to $8 billion in April this year from $4.7 billion in the year-ago period.