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By Bloomberg

India’s exports fell for a sixth straight month, the longest losing streak since 2009, weakening the rupee and boosting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spur demand in Asia’s third-largest economy.

Overseas shipments fell 20.2 percent in May from a year earlier and imports dropped 16.5 percent on lower oil prices, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. That left a $10.4 billion trade deficit, smaller than May’s $11 billion gap that economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted would hold.

The trade data “are a mixed bag,” Shilan Shah, Singapore- based India economist for Capital Economics Ltd., wrote in a report. “Overall though, the data support our view that India’s external position no longer poses the same threat to the economy as was the case in 2013.”

Gold imports are unlikely to surge as much as they did in previous years, leaving the current-account deficit at a more sustainable level, he said.

The country’s record foreign exchange reserves will serve as a line of defense against any volatility, the Reserve Bank of India said on June 2. That’s even as a weakening rupee and acceleration in inflation indicates room is decreasing for Governor Raghuram Rajan to lower interest rates further.

Oil imports fell 41 percent to $8.54 billion while gold shipments rose 10.5 percent to $2.42 billion. Exports of gems and jewelery fell 13 percent to $3 billion and petroleum products dropped 59 percent to $2.4 billion.

Rupee Falls

The rupee touched the day’s low soon after the data. The currency has weakened 2.1 percent over the past three months, the fourth-worst performance among 24 emerging market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Overseas funds became net sellers of Indian bonds in May for the first time since April 2014, amid increasing expectations that the U.S. will raise interest rates this year. Investors who borrowed in dollars to invest in rupees earned nothing in carry returns compared with gains of about 2 percent between January to April.

Rajan has bought more dollars than he’s sold every month through April since August 2014, boosting foreign-exchange reserves 11 percent during the period to an unprecedented $354 billion.