FIEO asks govt for analysis of sectors with low or negative growth

These sectors include plastic, handicrafts, tobacco, textiles, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery

Exporters body FIEO on Monday asked the government for an analysis of the sectors recording low or negative growth.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that 15 out of 30 major product groups have shown negative growth in June.

These sectors include plastic, handicrafts, carpet, textiles, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, leather, oil seeds and tobacco.

Decline in exports of pharma, leather, gems and jewellery are a cause of concern which needs to be looked into as all of them are important from export and employment perspective, a statement quoted FIEO President Ganesh Gupta as saying today.

"A sectoral analysis may be done to pin point factors responsible for decline in such sectors," he said.

In June, the country's exports grew 4.39 per cent year- on-year to $23.56 billion. In May, the shipments increased 8.32 per cent.

The FIEO president also asked the government to address implementation issues related to Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The issues "should be addressed on war footing else will affect exports in the current and next few months," he said.

Further, Gupta said the government needs to carefully watch imports under GST system as complete set off of integrated GST may spur imports of finished goods adding to the challenges of domestic manufacturing.