Besides gold, fertilizer imports have also contributed significantly to India’s ballooning trade imbalance. A deep dive into the recently-released trade data showed that India’s fertilizer import bill has zoomed over the year-ago period.

The merchandise trade deficit hit a record $41.68 billion in October, as non-oil items like fertilizers and gold pushed up the import bill and heightened external sector risks. The latest trade data shows that the cumulative import of fertilizers this fiscal until October is 82 per cent higher. In just four months from July-October, fertilizer imports were $8.09 billion, up by a whopping 143.67 per cent, mainly due to record imports of urea in a short span. According to official data, urea imports rose by 228.43 per cent in July-October to 49.79 LT from 1

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