India achieves highest ever goods export target of $400bn

History has been scripted, as India achieved its highest ever goods export target of USD 400 billion nine days ahead of schedule, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. He further said that “this is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey”.

“India achieves the target of 400 Billion dollars of goods exports for the first time ever. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers, exporters for this success. This is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey. #LocalGoesGlobal,” said PM Modi in a tweet. On an average, every hour, USD 46 million goods are exported, USD 1 billion goods are exported every day and USD 33 billion every month. The exports in the financial year 2020-21 were USD 292 billion, while the exports in 2021-22 are USD 400 billion with a 37% rise.

Earlier in February, the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said, “For 10 months in a row, continuously, from April 2021 to January 2022, India has posted over USD 30 billion of exports.

 We have already crossed USD 334 billion exports which is more than the highest ever that India had done earlier in a full 12-month period.” On 17 March, the Commerce and Industry Minister also said that India’s merchandise exports have reached USD 390 billion till 14 March of the current financial year and would certainly cross USD 400 billion during the year ending 31 March 2022. Addressing an event organised by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA), Goyal had said that India’s auto components industry has, for the first time, recorded a trade surplus of $600 million. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on 14 March, India’s merchandise exports for the period Apri lFebruary 2021-22 stood at $374.81 billion as against $256.55 billion during the period April-February 2020-21, registering a growth of 46.09 per cent. In February 2022, merchandise exports surged to $34.57 billion, registering a year-on-year growth of 25.1%. Addressing the ACMA event, Goyal noted that India’s automotive industry is worth more than $100 billion and contributes 8 per cent to the country’s total export and accounts for 2.3 per cent of India’s GDP. India’s auto industry is estimated to become the 3rd largest in the world by 2025