Exports maintain robust growth in August

India'sexports maintained strong performance in August, growing year-on-year by 44.2per cent to $24.3 billion despite problems in major economies of the west.

"Except iron ore, other sectors including engineering,chemicals and textiles have shown robust growth," Commerce Secretary RahulKhullar said on Friday.

Imports too grew by a fast pace of 41.8 per cent to $38.4billion, leaving a trade deficit of $14.1 billion for August.

For the cumulative period of April-August this fiscal, theshipments increased by 54.2 per cent to $134.5 billion, while imports expandedby 40.4 per cent to $189.4 billion.

Merchandise exports have been growing at an impressive speedin the current fiscal, shrugging off uncertainty in the US the debtproblems in several European nations.

During the same period trade gap stood at $54.9 billion,Khullar said.