The employment dividend from exports

The surge in some export sectors has the potential to address India's urban jobs challenge with necessary policy intervention

India’s exports of merchandise goods are booming. In the first five months of 2021-22, exports at $164 billion were 67 per cent higher than the same period of 2020-21. Of course, this growth rate was helped by the low base effect. Last year, in April-August 2020, exports fell by 26 per cent to $98 billion. The recovery, therefore, was huge. More importantly, exports of $164 billion in April-August 2021 were 23 per cent more than those in the same months of 2019. Such healthy growth rates in India’s exports have not been seen for more than a decade.

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