India's exports grew by over 9 per cent to $17.78 billion in the first four months of this year, but a steep 23 per cent rise in imports widened the trade deficit.

In July, exports grew by 5.75 per cent to $4.69 billion; while imports were valued at $5.7 billion, up by 17 per cent, according to the official figures.

During April-July this fiscal, imports had surged by 23 per cent to $22.72 billion mainly due to the increase in non-oil imports, thus more then doubling the trade deficit to $4.94 billion.

Exports were $16.27 billion and imports were $18.51 billion with trade deficit at only $2.24 billion during the first four months in 2002-03.