India still needs to improve its trade balance.

If one were to look at the trade balance data for the last 12 months, India still continues to languish in the red. Despite placing curbs on gold imports, the trade balance hasn't really improved and the reason for this can be attributed to weaker exports. Indeed, given the global economic slowdown, exports have not really set the pulse racing and this has had its impact on India's overall trade balance as well. Because India still imports a significant portion of oil that it consumes, there will always be the pressure of oil imports on the overall import bill. That is why it is necessary that various steps are taken so that exports become more competitive and ease the pressure on the overall trade balance.