The trade deficit rose 67 percent in May from a month ago to $15 billion, the highest since September 2008.

The trade gap widened despite a 57 percent year-on-year jump in exports, led by robust overseas sales of engineering goods, petroleum products and electronics.

“Exports are still growing,” Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar said on Friday.

“The big change between the last couple of months and now is that imports have suddenly surged.”

The trade deficit could hit $145 billion-$150 billion in this fiscal year, he said, as global crude prices inflate the import bill of the world’s fourth-largest oil importer.

“I can only hope it’s a one-off event,” Khullar said, referring to May’s trade deficit figure.

“I am not going to say that because it’s this high therefore we are sitting in a crisis. What I am saying is, if this repeats itself in the next couple of months, then we have something to be worried about.”

Economic uncertainty in India’s biggest export markets — the US and Europe — could also hurt demand and pressure the country’s trade and current account deficits.

India’s oil imports are expected to rise by 18 percent in May, Khullar said. Global crude prices hit the $120-per-barrel mark on Friday.

Later, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said the trade deficit was a “matter of concern.” “It’s very clear that it’s because of the volatility in petroleum prices. Oil prices have sky-rocketed.”

Crude prices are also high after OPEC talks broke down on Wednesday without an agreement to raise output.

India’s oil minister Jaipal Reddy said on Thursday that high international oil prices mean a bigger import bill for India. This could swell the country’s oil subsidy bill and pressure the government’s fiscal deficit target of 4.6 percent of the GDP.

India’s appetite for oil, machinery and electronic goods has soared to sustain the momentum of the world’s second fastest growing major economy after China.

A lot of what India buys — such as electronic goods and oil products — is processed and exported again overseas, which also inflates the import bill.

Goods exports from Asia’s third-largest economy have recovered strongly from the doldrums of the global economic slowdown and the government has envisaged at least 25 percent growth for the current fiscal year ending in March 2012.

India’s monthly exports have notched double-digit growth for much of the past year as demand, which had fallen sharply after the financial crisis, revived from key buyers. Indian exporters have also seen high growth in new markets, especially in Latin America.

But Indian exporters will likely keep a wary eye on how Europe manages the debt woes of the likes of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, as well as ongoing uncertainty over the US economic recovery and disaster-hit Japan.

“I’ve said this before, it’s not going to be an easy summer, and we’re seeing the first signs of that,” Khullar said.

There are also question marks on the sustainability of the strong export growth as most of India’s economic indicators have slowed.

Data on Friday showed the growth in industrial output for April has slowed, the latest sign that rising cost of credit and inflation are acting as brakes on the economy.

The data adds to evidence pointing to a slowdown in the Indian economy, which grew at an unexpectedly modest 7.8 percent in the three months through March, its slowest in five quarters.

The December-quarter current account gap stood at $9.7 billion compared with $12.2 billion a year earlier. Khullar had said earlier that he expects the 2010/11 current account deficit to be in the range of 2.5-2.8 percent of GDP.

India’s exports in May rose an annual 56.9 percent to $25.9 billion, while imports for the month rose 54.1 percent to $40.9 billion, Khullar said on Friday, citing provisional data.