FIEO presses govt for steps to limit decline in exports

Expressing serious concern over declining shipments, exporters body FIEO today demanded that the government announce steps to contain the fall in exports and boost out-bound shipments.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said it has become even more serious that the fall in exports during the last quarter of 2015-16 (January-March) was on a low base.
It called for steps like declaring exports as a priority sector for the lending purpose and restoration of interest subsidy to all exporters.
"Investment-linked benefit should also be announced for MSME exporters, line of credit or buyers' credit to boost exports and setting up an Export Development Fund," it said in a statement.

The continuous slowdown in demand in global markets and liquidity problem are primarily responsible for the drop in out-bound shipments in 2015-16, it said.
"Almost all major sectors, including engineering, petroleum, leather and textiles, have shown either a negative growth or a declining trend during the last three months," it added.

These sectors together account for well over two-thirds of India's exports.
"Moreover, uncertainty on the policy front, ease of doing business and high cost of credit did play a smaller role in the decline," it added.
Declining for the 16th straight month in March, exports contracted by 5.47 per cent to USD 22.71 billion as shipments of petroleum and engineering products contracted sharply due to tepid global demand.

For the whole of 2015-16, exports declined by 15.8 per cent to a 5-year low of USD 261.13 billion due to fragile global demand and low commodity prices.