NEW DELHI: Exports rose in December for the second straight month after a year-long decline as demand picked up in the US and Asia for the nation's cars and jewellery.

Overseas shipments rose 9.3% to $14.6 billion in December after gaining 18.2% in the previous month from a year earlier, the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement in New Delhi today. Exports are rebounding after an average 17.4% drop in the past year.

"The export trend, going forward, will remain positive,” said D H Pai Panandiker, president of RPG Foundation, an economic policy group in New Delhi. "It's a reflection of recovery in the advanced economies."

The US, India's biggest overseas market, expanded 5.7% last quarter, the fastest pace in six years. Maruti Suzuki India, the country's biggest carmaker, reported a four-fold surge in exports in January from a year earlier.

A revival in exports may aid India's industrial recovery and bolster growth in Asia's third-biggest economy, which expanded 7.9% in the three months ended September 30.

India's central bank, last week, raised its growth estimate to 7.5% in the year to March 31 from 6%, citing strengthening local and export demand. To check inflation, the bank raised the proportion of deposits lenders need to set aside as cash reserves to 5.75% from 5%. It left the benchmark reverse repurchase rate unchanged at 3.25%.

Exports are also growing as India enters into free trade agreements with other countries. Last year, the South Asian nation signed a free-trade accord with South Korea and the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.