August 27, 2018
Indian Government aims to tackle challenges on way of increasing export such as global trade uncertainty, difficulties in availability of credit, high logistics cost as well as productivity standards
Efforts to boost export by alleviating these concerns have led to a more than 14 per cent year-on-year growth in merchandise exports to US$82.5 Billion during the first quarter of fiscal 2018-19
A growing portion of India's exports is being represented by the Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative that has encouraged foreign companies to set up operations in India to cater to global markets
Commodity and territory specific strategy is also being prepared for items such as jewellery, leather, textile, engineering sector, electronics, petrochemicals, pharma, agri and marine products
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu, on August 27 led a meeting of export industry officials and stakeholders to discuss a strategy for doubling the country’s exports by 2025. The meeting focussed on tackling challenges on way of increasing export such as global trade uncertainty, difficulties in availability of credit, high logistics cost as well as productivity standards and qualities. Indian Government’s efforts to boost export by alleviating these concerns have led to a more than 14 per cent year-on-year growth in merchandise exports to US$82.5 Billion during the first quarter of fiscal 2018-19. Meanwhile, India’s service export rose by 8 per cent to US$16.2 billion during May 2018. This growth has been aided by India’s increasing command in global value chain setup.
Besides aiding economic growth, rising exports have helped in generating jobs and bolstering the nation’s foreign exchange reserves. Not to mention, a growing portion of India’s exports is being represented by the Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative that has encouraged foreign companies to set up operations in India to cater to global markets. To keep up this momentum, the Government will set up a mission to regularly review the work of different export promotion councils and divisions of the Ministry of Commerce. Mr Prabhu has already held two meetings with key Ministries for preparing sectoral export strategies that are being finalized. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has done a study identifying 100 billion exports in traditional, new markets and products.
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Commerce to give focused attention to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors to set up India as a service hub, beyond the nation’s expertise in IT-ITeS services. Commodity and territory specific strategy is also being prepared for items such as gems and jewellery, leather, textile and apparel, engineering sector, electronics, petrochemicals, pharma, agri and allied products and marine sector. Additionally, the Export–Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) has conducted market research and a draft export strategy is being prepared. The Government is also approaching export activities specific to different territories such as NAFTA, Europe, CIS, China, ASEAN as well as developing economies in Africa.