The latest Indian economic data has demonstrated a further decline in the country's exports during October 2015.

This represented an 11th consecutive monthly decline, with exports falling by 17.5 percent year on year to $21.35 billion (£14.03 billion), due to the continued downward pressure exerted by middling global demand.

Imports also experienced a sharp drop, falling by 21.15 percent on last year to $31.12 billion. This meant the overall Indian trade deficit came down to $9.7 billion, an eight-month low, falling from $10.47 billion in September and $13.35 billion in October 2015.

Nevertheless, the report indicated that government efforts to shift the focus of Indian trade to domestic markets via export incentive schemes are yet to bear fruit, with exports in 20 of the 30 industries surveyed seeing a decline.

Ajay Sahai, director-general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said: "The decline in exports is worse than even that during the global slowdown. With this, reaching even $300 billion of exports this year looks difficult."