Export of 12 sectors improves
Risky exporters issues are some of the key concerns, which should be considered to give a much-needed boost to the export sector and the overall economy, highlighted the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) President.
FIEO President Sharad Kumar Saraf reiterated that with the global trade forecast showing a gloomy picture, there is an urgent and immediate need for a special export package for the employment and the labour-intensive sector of exports for reviving India’s foreign trade sector.
He noted the implementation of the economic measures announced, creation of an Export Development Fund with 1% corpus of the total value of exports during the last fiscal, MEIS of 2% across the board and 4% for the labour-intensive sectors.
But Saraf pointed out the global trade forecast showing a gloomy picture, there is an urgent and immediate need for a special exports package for the employment and the labour-intensive sector of exports for reviving India’s foreign trade sector.
Saraf again expressed his serious concerns over a sharp decline in employment-intensive sectors of exports which has serious ramifications for the jobs in the country particularly as domestic demand will also not be robust.
Saraf presented his views in comments on June export. Twelve out of the 30 major product groups were in positive territory while imports showed a high double-digit decline of 47.59 percent with US$21.11 billion during June 2020.
The double-digit decline in exports by 12.41% at US$21.91 billion in June has to be seen in the context of a whopping decline of 60% in April and 35% in May, said Saraf in welcoming a recovery in shipments during the month on 15 July 2020.
Responding to June export figures, Saraf noted that the monthly figures have yet again shown drastic arrests in the decline of exports on the back of the opening of business activities across the major economies of the globe.
“The recovery has exceeded our expectation,” he added.
The June figures also show a trade surplus of US$790 million, which is an encouragement as the last time when the trade surplus was in positive territory was in January 2002, more than 18 years back.
However, a steep decline in imports may hamper the industrial recovery in the coming months, he pointed out.
Saraf also lauded the efforts of the exporters, who have worked exceptionally hard to recover from the lockdown setback so quickly and reach such levels.
He reiterated that the achievement becomes all the more remarkable because many of the areas in the country are still under containment zones and under severe restrictions.
Further, many economies have not been able to make such a remarkable comeback.
President FIEO is of the view that all this has been possible because of the start of business activities across the country and business and order enquiries from almost all major economies like US, EU, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
With the global revival and business sentiments still at its low, impacting the supply chain and bringing slump or recessionary conditions in the economies across the world, Saraf is of the view that the focus should be on FTAs to further revive our exports and take up competition coming from smaller countries like Vietnam.
He noted that the exports during the month for emergency and essential items like drugs & pharmaceutical, organic & inorganic chemicals along with Agri and plantation products besides iron-ore were in positive territory showing signs of further revival with few showing impressive double-digit growth. #exports #shipments #manufacturing #imports #FIEO #trade #commerce /fiinews.com
