India's exports increased by 36.2 per cent to USD 16.88 billion in April, the sixth consecutive month of growth.

Last April, exports had shrunk nearly 30 per cent to USD 12.4 billion under the impact of the worst recession in 60 years that dried-up demand in key markets such as the US.

However, going forward the European debt crisis may weigh on outbound shipments, even though India's trade exposure to Greece is limited, rating agency Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi said.

"It all (export performance) depends how the European crisis unfolds," he said.

President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) A Sakthivel said the Greek crisis would only have a minimal impact on exports.

"Our big buyers are Germany, Italy and France," he said.

European Union generally accounts for about 20 per cent of India's exports.

Experts, however, said the recovery in exports should be viewed in the backof the dismal performance last year.

"Right now the growth rate is basically due to low base effect (poor performance in April last year)...," Joshi said.

As the impact of low base peters off in the coming months, "We can expect moderation in exports in the second half of the current fiscal," he said.

Before turning positive in November 2009, the country's merchandise consignment had contracted for 13 months in a row since October 2008.

Reflecting a growing domestic demand, imports too increased in April by 43.3 per cent to USD 27.3 billion from USD 19.05 billion a year ago.

Trade deficit for April was USD 10.4 billion, against USD 6.7 billion in the year-ago period.

Non-oil imports increased by 34.3 per cent in the opening month of the current fiscal.

Oil imports increased to USD 8.08 billion, against USD 4.74 billion in April last year.

Indian economy grew by 8.6 per cent in the last quarter of fiscal 2009-10, despite slow recovery in several developed countries.

At USD 176.5 billion, exports contributed about 17 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.