Sectoral review of lagging exports in Dec, says minister

Exporters might look forward to yet another booster dose from the government after it concludes a sector-wise review by December, said commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday.

At an interaction with some of the chambers of commerce, he said the government would also implement measures to reduce procedural and transaction costs of exports by early October. Challenges remain on  container transport under the railways, he said, and on port charges that come under the shipping ministry, which might take some time to address.

The sectoral review would be undertaken in November, with the report in December. This would be done to especially evaluate and analyse the performance of some ailing sectors like handicrafts, carpets, toys and readymade garments, which were given a series of incentives under the annual supplement of the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-2014.

The government had done a couple of similar reviews in 2009-10, too, which induced it to come out with incentives worth Rs 1,050 crore through the FTP announced on Monday, aimed mainly at labour-intensive sectors.

While Sharma sounded confident of achieving exports of $200 billion (Rs 9.34 lakh crore) during the year, he also expressed apprehension over sustaining the growth in the remaining months, saying there would be “bumpy rides”.

Merchandise exports from India grew by 48 per cent during April-September in 2008, after which it started plummeting due to the slowdown in demand in some significant markets such as the US, Germany, France and Japan, which account for almost 60 per cent of our exports.

The decline in exports was sharpest in May last year, when the fall inched towards 40 per cent year-on-year. However, things started taking a positive turn from October onwards. During the period between October 2009 and March 2010, exports posted a growth rate of 32 per cent, compared to the same period in 2008-09.