Despite registering a 10 per cent growth in exports during 2003, India has slipped in the global trade sweepstakes and does not find a place in the top 30 exporting countries.

According to the 2003 world trade data, released by the World Trade Organisation in Geneva on Monday, United Arab Emirates, with exports of $58.1 billion, edged out India, which exported goods worth $55 billion, from the 30th spot on the list of top exporters in 2003.

Excluding intra-European Union trade, India occupied the 21st place, a notch below its 20th rank in 2002 even as its share in global exports remained around the 0.8 per cent level.

With services exports growing 20.77 per cent during 2003 to $25 billion, India moved up one rank to occupy the 20th place on the list of top services exporters. In 2003, India's share in global services exports rose to 1.42 per cent compared to 1.34 per cent in 2002.

India maintained the 24th position on the list of top merchandise importers, with imports of $69.7 billion in 2003 compared to $56.3 billion in 2002. It also moved up the list of service importers with imports to the order of $ 20 billion.

WTO said that world trade grew 4.5 per cent during 2003 on the back of a 2.5 per cent increase in global output. It has projected a 7.5 per cent trade growth in 2004. The multilateral body had projected that merchandise trade would grow around 3 per cent, compared to 2.5 per cent in 2002.

World merchandise exports grew 16 per cent in 2003 to $ 7.27 trillion, while services exports rose 12 per cent to $ 1.76 trillion. "Clearly, the improved economic situation in the United States and Asia has given an important boost to world trade," WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said in a statement.

Germany displaced the United States as the top merchandise exporter with exports of $ 748.4 billion followed by the US ($724 billion) and Japan ($471.9 billion) during the year.

China, which jumped three places to become the world's third largest importer behind the US and Germany, saw a 35 per cent rise in exports in nominal terms and a 40 per cent leap in imports, compared with the previous year.