new delhi its official now exports in october this year were 12 lower than in the same month of 2007 an indicator of how badly the recession in the us and europe is hitting indiaexports during october 2008 were valued at 128 billion 12 lower than the 146 billion achieved in october 2007 for the first seven months of this fiscal exports totaled 108 billion as against 87 billion in apriloctober 2007 when yearonyear growth was 237the sluggishness in the countrys trade was reflected also in imports growing by just 106 in october over the previous year compared to the 41 growth witnessed in the first half of the yearin what would be even more worrying for those tracking macroeconomic trends nonoil imports grew by just 55 in october compared to 29 in the first six months of 200809 such low growth in imports possibly reflects not just the slowdown in importintensive exports like gems jewellery but also in demand in the economythe net result of declining exports and slowly rising imports was that october saw a trade deficit of 105 billion more or less in line with the average for the first six months toosenior officials in both the commerce and finance ministries had recently predicted a slowdown of exports by at least 15 in october and also suggested that the target of 200 billion fixed for this fiscal would not be met the government now has scaled down expectations to 175 billionexperts feel the situation of exports is likely to further worsen in the remaining period of this fiscal with a general slowdown in demand across the globe and few buyers coming to india in the immediate aftermath of the terror attacks on mumbai considered as the commercial capital of the countrylast month the director general of foreign trade r s gujral had said that the downturn in exports is likely to hit the labourintensive industries the most which could result in largescale unemployment a major cause of concern for the pollbound upa governmentamong the worst affected sectors were gems and jewellery handicrafts textiles and leather the dgft had said the deacceleration in exports related to the labourintensive industry has in fact been continuing for some timecommerce secretary g k pillai had earlier estimated a loss of at least 5 lakh jobs in the textile sector in the next five monthsbloomberg quoted some us importers of indian merchandise saying they would refrain from traveling to india in the current situation this the agency said would put pressure on the overall performance of actual business