New Delhi, May 15 (IANS): The Covid-19 global outbreak heavily dented India's merchandise exports in April, as they plunged by over 60 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $10.36 billion from $26.07 billion reported for the corresponding period of the previous year.

"The decline in exports has been mainly due to the ongoing global slowdown, which got aggravated due to the current Covid-19 crisis. The latter resulted in large scale disruptions in supply chains and demand resulting in cancellation of orders," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

"Except for 'Iron Ore' and 'Drugs & Pharmaceuticals' which registered a growth of 17.53 per cent and 0.25 per cent respectively, all other commodity or commodity groups have registered negative growth in April 2020 vis-a-vis April 2019.

"Similarly, imports declined by 58.65 per cent to $17.12 billion in April from $41.40 billion reported for the corresponding month of 2019.

"Oil imports in April 2020 were $4.66 billion, which was 59.03 per cent lower in Dollar terms, compared to $11.38 billion in April 2019," the statement said.

"Non-oil imports in April 2020 were estimated at $12.46 billion which was 58.50 per cent lower in Dollar terms, compared to $30.02 billion in April 2019.

"Besides, non-oil and non-gold imports were $12.46 billion in April 2020, recording a negative growth of (-) 52.18 per cent, as compared to non-oil and non-gold imports of $26.05 billion in April 2019."

Consequently, India's trade deficit narrowed to $6.76 billion on a year-on-year basis in April from $15.33 billion reported for the corresponding month of last year.