NEW DELHI: India’s exports saw the steepest decline in over three years in February, underlining the weak global economy and the possible impact of a stronger rupee.The lower cost of crude oil pushed down imports sharply, helping to narrow the trade deficit to a one-and-a-half-year low. Outbound shipments fell 15% to $21.5 billion in February from a year earlier, the third straight month of contraction, on the back of lower realisations from petroleum exports and poor performance in sectors such as engineering, pharmaceuticals and gems & jewellery, data released by the department of commerce showed on Friday.Imports fell 15.7% to $28.4 billion. The trade deficit for the month came in at $6.8 billion. Lower exports could dent India’s economic recovery.“Curtailed demand for Indian exports remains a risk factor that may temper the growth of Indian economic activity going ahead. With the February 2014 merchandise trade deficit broadly in line with expectations, we continue to expect a small current account surplus in the ongoing quarter,” said Aditi Nayar, a senior economist at ICRA.Non-oil, non-gold imports expanded 8.7%, compared with 3.4% in the previous month, suggesting a pick-up in economic activity in February. Car sales increased almost 7% last month, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said. Outbound shipments will need to expand by at least 9% in March to touch last year’s exports of $312 billion. The government had set a $340 billion export target for 2014-15.