Saraf reiterates call for more FTAs
Business order enquiries from almost all major economies like the US, EU, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand as well as business activities across the country have brought exports sector to almost 90% of the level in July 2019.
This assessment was given by FIEO President Sharad Kumar Saraf on 14 August 2020 in comments on the July exports, reaffirming his call for a focus on free trade agreements (FTAs) and more of multi-lateral agreements to further revive Indian exports and take up competition coming from smaller countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh and Taiwan.
He noted further consolidation as continuous arrest in the decline of exports has led to a lower double-digit negative growth of just 10.21% with US$23.64 billion as against very high negative double-digit growth during April and May this fiscal.
All this has been possible because of the start of business activities, he added.
“Though the monthly export data depicts a lower double-digit decline in exports, but it must be seen in the context of the recovery that has exceeded our expectation as the government through constant interaction with exporters has been understanding and more importantly addressing the exporters’ problems,” explained Saraf.
However, he feels that the global revival and business sentiments still have not picked up.
Sixteen out of the 30 major product groups were in positive territory during July 2020 and imports during the month showed a high double-digit decline of 28.40% with US$28.47 billion.
The exports during July for emergency and essential items apart from some labour-intensive sectors including drugs & pharmaceutical, engineering goods, cotton yarn/fabs/made-ups etc, jute manufacturing including floor covering, carpet, plastics & linoleum along with Agri, plantation and meat & dairy products besides iron-ore were in positive territory showing signs of further revival with few showing impressive double-digit growth.
The FIEO president expressed his satisfaction over the improvement in labour-intensive sectors of exports, which directly or indirectly impacts employment generation in the country.
He reiterated that there is a need to analyse imports as well, as such a steep decline in imports may hamper the industrial recovery in the coming months.
But he noted that the global trade forecast still shows a gloomy picture, there is an urgent and immediate need for a special exports package for reviving India’s foreign trade.
Besides the 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 labour-intensive sectors and addressing “risky exporters” issues apart from quickly deciding on RoDTEP rates are some of the key concerns, which should be immediately considered to give a much-needed boost to the exports sector and the overall economy, Saraf said. #exports #manufacturing #shipping #consumer /fiinews.com
