Order booking position of exporters is extremely encouraging, says FIEO Chief
Responding to the new milestone of US$400 billion for exports during the current fiscal year, FIEO President Sharad Kumar Saraf said that it reflects the optimism and confidence not only of the Government but equally of the trade and industry.
While facing numerous challenges in manufacturing and logistics, the recent export growth has been more than satisfying and shows that the industry is better equipped to handle the second wave with minimum of disruptions. Detailing the basis for achieving such milestones in exports, Saraf said that the order booking position of exporters is extremely encouraging.
Moreover, increase in the prices of many inputs have resulted in re-negotiation of orders with some price escalation, which may also support exports in value terms by 10-15%, India also seems to be reaching its peak and increasing vaccination with the support of industry is expected to bring the economy back on track while simultaneously admitting that States have been quite supportive of manufacturing and exports during the second wave. Free interstate movement of goods have ensured almost seamless exports though occasional hiccups at local level were witnessed by some exporters.
President FIEO said that to achieve such a target, a concerted strategy would be required, treating exports on a national priority by all wings and Ministries.
He complimented Piyush Goyal, Union Commerce & Industry Minister for constantly engaging with exporters and resolving their issues.
Liquidity should be addressed by encouraging banks to lend to the export sector and more importantly instantly releasing all export benefits including Drawback, MEIS, GST and RoDTEP to name a few, stressed Saraf. This will help in making exports profitable, else with delay in refund, exporters profitability is wiped out with increasing interest burden.
He also expressed his concern over the rising prices of domestic inputs and suggested reduction in import tariff to soften prices. He urged the shipping companies to rationally increase freight as all stakeholders are facing the same problem and with recovery in sight, all will sail together.
Saraf said that the PLI scheme will be a game changer not only for augmenting exports but also for reducing imports as investment is being sought in sectors, which are key drivers of global trade.
Electronics, Machineries, Automobiles and Food processing are showing extremely encouraging trends in exports which will accelerate further with expansion of production base with the PLI Scheme, he said in a release on 12 May 2021.
India’s April exports yet again showed an impressive performance on the back of extremely good order booking position, starting the new fiscal on a positive note, Saraf said in reaction to the latest numbers announced by the government on 14 May 2021.
“The impressive growth reiterates our assessment that order booking position of our exporters is extremely good and with gradual improvement of situation in the country, will push exports growth further.” Over 15% growth on the base of April 2019 is a better indicator and reflects a positive double digit trend.
Saraf particularly emphasised that the growth in labour-intensive sectors like Gems & Jewellery, Handicrafts and Carpets augur well for the job scenario, which is most relevant in the current context. Such a growth has been mainly on account of 30 out of 30 major product groups of exports showing either a very impressive high positive growth starting with four digit and almost all ending with a very high double digit growth continuously defying all the odds for the second time during the year 2021 as still the global economy is passing through these challenging times.
The FIEO Chief also reiterated that the continuous support and help provided by the Government during these difficult times has been commendable.
He thanked the overall exporting community for continuously showing resilience and coming up with impressive performance even during these torrid times.
Further an increase in April 2021 imports by about 167.05% to US$45.72 billion compared to the same period during the previous fiscal led to a trade deficit of US$15.10 billion, which is an increase of over 123.17% during the month, which is definitely a concern and should be looked into, he said.
He reiterated that the government must address some of the key issues including announcement of the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) soon after September 2021, release of the necessary funds for RoDTEP, MEIS and clarity on SEIS benefits, softening of freight charges, resolving risky exporters’ issues and continuance of seamless refund of IGST.
Besides long pending demand for the creation of an Export Development Fund for marketing of Brand India products and various other infrastructure bottlenecks also needs to be looked into to bring back exports on the double-digit growth trajectory, he said.
Merchandise export, excluding POL and Gems & Jewellery, have increased by 160.24% in April 2021 over the same period of 2020-21 and by 20.47% over same period of 2019-20.
The Economic recovery is also visible in the rising import growth of 167.05% and 7.87% during April 2021 over same period of 2020-21 and 2019-20, respectively, said the Commerce and Industry Ministry on 14 May 2021. #exports #banking #credit #manufacturing /fiinews.com
