New Delhi, November 17: The Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal over a decline in the country's exports, saying maybe now he will take a leaf out of the finance minister's book and state that exports haven't fallen but the world is importing less.

The Congress has been taking jibes at the government over Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's remarks last month that the rupee has not weakened but the American dollar has strengthened. Also Read | BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra Slams Rahul Gandhi for 'Insulting' Veer Savarkar, Demands His Apology.

India's exports entered negative territory after a gap of about two years, declining sharply by 16.65 per cent to USD 29.78 billion in October, mainly due to global demand slowdown, even as trade deficit widened to USD 26.91 billion, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday. Uttarakhand Congress Takes Out Rally in Support of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

Key export sectors, including gems and jewellery, engineering, petroleum products, ready-made garments of all textiles, chemicals, pharma, marine products and leather, recorded negative growth in October.

Taking to Twitter to attack the government over the decline in exports, Congress general secretary in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh said, "Commerce Min famed for thinking Einstein was Newton should be a worried man. Since Jun '22, exports have fallen in both value and volume."

"Maybe he'll now take a leaf out of Finance Minister's book & say exports haven't fallen but the world's importing less," Ramesh said. The Congress leader also shared an old video of Goyal in which he made an apparent gaffe by naming Albert Einstein instead of Isaac Newton as the discoverer of gravity.

Last month, the Congress had hit out at Sitharaman over her remarks that the rupee has not weakened but the American dollar has strengthened, and asked till when will people pay the price for the government's "incompetence and wrong policies".

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