India has seen a third consecutive month of year-on-year export improvements during November 2016, according to new government data.

Provisional figures show the country's exports were worth around $20 billion (€19.13 billion), representing a year-on-year improvement of 2.2 per cent. Despite the year-on-year improvement, this was down from the $23.5 billion October figure due to the impact of demonetization on shipments.

Imports, meanwhile, increased at a 10.4 per cent rate to $33 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $13 billion. The commerce and industry ministry described this as an improvement in the overall trade balance.

One of the key developments of the month was the surge in gold imports, rising by 23.24 per cent to $4.36 billion - up from $3.54 billion in November 2015 and $3.5 billion in October this year.

SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said: "The sentiment still remains low in the global market and factors like US federal rate hike and demonetization have also in some way added to the woes of the exporters, which may be seen in the figures of coming months."