India managed to grow its exports in 2018. Double-digit export growth continued for half the year. But high crude prices and rising domestic demand continued to inflate the trade deficit at a faster rate. The year started with monthly trade deficit soaring to a 56-month high. By October, it had risen to more than $153 billion. Crippling capital inadequacy was felt in the wake of GST.

Imports also shot up as volatile crude prices made a comeback to haunt policymakers after a year of relative ease. India’s current account deficit is expected to triple in the second quarter of fiscal ’19, or about three per cent of GDP, from the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

As a result, import restrictions were placed and inbound duties were raised on six separate occasions for hundreds of products including textile inputs, steel, mobile phones and solar panels, among others. The move was strongly criticised for raising protectionist barriers at a time when economic growth was tepid. But India managed to navigate through a field of tariff landmines as a trade war between the United States and China heated up throughout the year. The US threatened to cut market access for Indian goods but negotiations are on.