April exports estimated at $64.56bn, up 6.88% on the year
Tariff war between the US and China may come as an opportunity for India’s exports sector, says FIEO https://fieo.org/ President Ashwani Kumar, welcoming the start of new financial year 2024-25 on a positive note as exports grew by 6.88% despite headwinds.
India’s total exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April 2024 is estimated to be US$64.56 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 6.88% over April 2023. Total imports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April 2024 is estimated to be US$71.07 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 12.78% over April 2023.
“This is a good sign even during such challenging times,” he said on 15 May in reaction to the latest export numbers from the Commerce and Industry Ministry http://commerce.gov.in .
“We further hope that exports will start showing better growth numbers with improved demand in the European Union http://ec.europa.eu , West Asia and the UK and the US, which has given boost to the order bookings by over 10%,” he said https://www.trade.gov/ .
“This has come as sign of recovery for labour-intensive sectors of exports including Leather & Leather products, Footwear and Apparels.”
Key sectors with positive growth during the month of April 2024 included electronic goods, drugs & pharmaceuticals, organic & inorganic chemicals, petroleum products, plastics & linoleum, cotton yarn/fabs/made-ups, handloom products etc., spices, cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items, tea, coffee, tobacco, carpet and handicrafts excl. handmade carpet.
Kumar also added that though there is increase in imports mainly due to petroleum products, gold, pulses and vegetable oil but the increase in petroleum products and gold import will lead to increase in exports of petroleum products and gems & jewellery with a time lag.
Kumar further reiterated that the need of the hour is to take steps on the liquidity front with deeper interest subvention support and continuation of interest equalisation scheme.
Besides, addressing the Middle East geopolitical situation , Red Sea crisis challenges by ensuring availability of marine insurance and rationale increase in freight charges https://www.wto.org/ .
The sector also needs easy & low cost of credit, marketing support and conclusion of some of the key FTAs with UK https://www.uktradeinfo.com/ , Peru https://www.eoilima.gov.in/ and Oman https://omanchamber.om/ soon, he pointed out.
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war coupled with various major geo-political tensions including the Red Sea crisis and Israel-Hamas conflict has also made the international trade scenario much tougher for the Indian exporters, he underlined. Fiinews.com
