NEW DELHI: India’s exports rose 9.8% during 2017-18, the highest growth rate in six years, while imports went up nearly 20% as commodity prices pushed up the value of shipments in and out of the country along with a pick-up in global trade. But, exports dipped 0.7% in March to $29.1 billion led by a decline in shipments of gems and jewellery and petroleum products from the country, latest data released by the commerce department on Friday showed.This was the first decline in four months as oil exports dropped 13%, while gems and jewellery exports fell nearly 17%. During March, import growth too slowed down, rising 7% to $42.8 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $13.7 billion.In 2017-18, trade deficit was estimated to have widened to $157 billion, compared to $109 billion in 2016-17.“With the expansion in imports nearly twice as high as export growth in FY2018, the merchandise trade deficit widened by 44% in the just-concluded fiscal. ICRA expects the current account deficit to more than triple to $47-50 billion (around 1.9% of GDP) in FY2018 from $15 billion in FY2017,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist at the ratings agency.While exporters’ lobby group Fieo said that the overall number was positive, it warned about the adverse impact of protectionism and geo-political uncertainity.“We are worried about the labour-intensive sectors such as gems & jewellery, garments, and many other sector of exports, dominated by MSME, which are still facing the problem of liquidity,” Fieo president Ganesh Kumar Gupta said, pointing to numbers for March 2018.