New Delhi, Sept. 22 -- While India's exports have kept up a healthy momentum, its efforts to diversify markets are also working out well. Shipments from India to the other original members of the Brics grouping, namely Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa, reportedly surged 34% to $19.9 billion in April-August. To China alone, these grew 39%.

Though these gains are on small bases, increasing diversification will help India reduce its reliance on a few markets as world trade falls victim to the vagaries of geopolitics.

With China, India has a wide trade deficit. If the current export momentum continues, it would help narrow this gap. This may take a long time, given how heavily imports from China outweigh exports. Still, the trade rela...