India's exports recorded a low growth of 6.7 per cent in December last compared to the same month in 2010. According to the Commerce Ministry data released today, it happened due to demand slowdown in the western markets of the US and Europe.

On the other hand, imports were up by 19.8 per cent year-on-year to 37.7 billion US Dollars in the same month.

In December 2010, exports stood at 23.4 billion US Dollars, while imports were worth 31.5 billion US Dollars. The trade deficit stood at 12.7 billion US Dollars in December 2011 compared to 8 billion US Dollars in the same period last year.

A muted export growth is mainly due to declining demand from Europe and the US.

Due to better performance in the previous months, the country's exports grew by 25.8 per cent year-on-year to 217.6 billionUS Dollars in the April-December 2011-12.

During the first nine months of the fiscal, imports also rose by 30.3 per cent to 350.9 billion US Dollars leaving a trade gap of 133.2 billion US Dollars.

In December, oil imports grew by 11.2 per cent to 10.2 billion US Dollars. Non-oil imports rose by 23.3 per cent to 27.4 billion US Dollars over the year-ago period.

During April-December, oil imports stood at 105.5 billion US Dollars, an increase of 40.3 per cent. Non-oil imports rose by 26.5 per cent to 245.3 billion US Dollars.