FTP good blueprint to arrest declining exports: Industry

Foreign Trade Policy announced by the government today has laid a "reasonably good blueprint" for arresting declining exports and raising it to $ 200 billion in the next two years, said the industry chambers.

"...(the FTP) will help our exporters retain market share, and will hopefully reverse the declining trend in our exports," FICCI President Harshpati Singhania said.

He added that the enhanced benefits for market development and promotion schemes would enable the exporting community to explore new export destinations.

Exports are on decline since October 2008 due to demand slump in the US and the EU, the traditional markets for Indian products.

The Confederation of Indian Industry Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said the focus in the FTP on 26 new markets will greatly benefit the exporters who have been hit due to demand slowdown in the country's traditional markets.

"It is a very realistic trade policy. I think new products (and) new countries have been best thought out... In a very innovative Foreign Trade Policy," Banerjee said.

He said the FTP may not have specifically mentioned the small and medium enterprises sector but it talks about the labour intensive sector which largely consists of SMEs.

Terming the policy as "user friendly", Assocham said "... it rightly focuses on creation of demand for Indian products in new markets to help exporters distribute and diversify their risks".

 

Assocham President Sajjan Jindal said the $200-billion export target for 2010-11 is realistic.

FIEO, the apex body of exporters while welcoming the policy said the government has provided impetus to the labour intensive sectors like textiles, handicrafts by giving them additional benefit under various schemes like focus market and focus product.

"The doubling of benefits under the Served From India Scheme will help the services sectors particularly the hotel and tourism which have been impacted due to the global slowdown and 26/11 (Mumbai attacks in November 2008)," FIEO President A Sakthivel said.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) has expressed disappointment over the policy saying it does not offer any contra cyclical steps for reversing the current trend in declining exports.

"Overall the FTP proposed today is characterised by incremental improvements here and there, but completely misses addressing the issue of falling trade and offering vision for India's trade post global financial crisis," FISME said in a statement.