NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- India's trade deficit widened to $5.68 billion in December from $2.69 billion a year earlier as the pace of export growth slackened in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The deficit stood at $6.20 billion in November, $6.21 billion in October and $5.33 billion in September.

The government said on Saturday the trade gap widened to $41.72 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year that began in April, from $31.76 billion in the same period last year.

Exports in December rose 7.75 percent from a year earlier to $9.90 billion, while imports rose an annual 31.12 percent to $15.58 billion, the provisional data showed.

Analysts said the trade deficit was not yet a concern but slowing down of export growth needed to be looked at carefully.

"The trade deficit is not a concern but exports are lower than expectations. One needs to look at it closely to find out the reasons," said Saumitra Chaudhuri, economic adviser, domestic ratings agency ICRA.

Exports in the April-December period were $89.49 billion, compared with $73.36 billion in the year-ago period.

The government's full-year export target is $126 billion, a rise of 22.3 percent over the previous year.

Imports in the first nine months of 2006/07 were $131.21 billion an increase of 24.8 percent from $105.11 billion in the same year ago period.

Non-oil imports, a key gauge of industrial activity, were up 31.81 percent in December to $10.76 billion while April-December period they rose 18.67 percent to $87.40 billion.

Oil imports in December rose 29.58 percent from a year earlier to $4.82 billion. In the April-December period, they grew an annual 39.23 percent to $43.82 billion.

India imports about 70 percent of its oil needs.