Reacting to the Trade Data, FIEO President, Dr A Sakthivel said that the highest-ever exports of USD 37.29 billion with a growth of 37 percent during the month and USD 103 billion during the October-December Quarter of 2021-22 along with an merchandise exports of about USD 300 billion with an increase of around 49 percent during April-December, 2021-22 is phenomenal in itself, as it has broken all previous records of recent times, showcasing the continuous resilience of India’s exports sector. The enthusiasm with which the Exim community has impressively performed during the year has further given a boost to the sector, thereby helping the economy further move towards recovery. The forecast of growth in the economy along with the recent GDP numbers also showcases the positive impact of exports, added FIEO Chief.
Praising the efforts and hard work of the exporters, Dr Sakthivel thanked the Hon’ble Prime Minister, whose clarion call to exporters further enthused the exporting community for such an outstanding performance. Dr Sakthivel also welcomed the steps taken by the government under the able and dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and also the Union Finance Minister and the Union Commerce & Industry and Textiles Minister for showing confidence and trust on the exporters during these challenging times.
The FIEO President said that the top sectors, which performed impressively during the month were Engineering Goods, Petroleum Products, Gems & Jewellery, Organic & Inorganic Chemicals, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, Electronic Goods, RMG of All Textiles, Cotton Yarn/Fabrics/Made-ups, Handloom Products etc., Plastic & Linoleum and Rice contributing to about USD 30 billion (constituting about 80 percent of exports with a growth of 41 percent during the month over December 2020). Out of these, many of them were labour-intensive sectors contributing majorly to the exports basket, which itself is a good sign, further helping job creation in the country. Looking at the current trend, we are on course to achieving the USD 400 billion merchandise exports target for the fiscal, said FIEO President. Dr Sakthivel also added that spectacular exports growth coupled with orders in hand will help in pushing India’s exports further during the next fiscal thereby aiming for exports in the vicinity of US$ 525-530 Bn during FY’ 2022-23. However, imports clocking USD 59.27 billion during the month with a very high growth of 38.06 percent, is a point of concern and should be analysed, said Dr A Sakthivel.
The FIEO Chief is of the view that though the government has announced a slew of measures to support exports, the need of the hour is to soon announce extension of the interest equalisation scheme and allow transfer of MEIS and expand usages of RoDTEP and RoSCTL scrips. Some of the other major issues which requires the attention of the government are necessary steps with an option to support the sector in case of spread of new variant of Covid-19, encouragement to overseas marketing for exports, fiscal and tax support to address logistics challenges, developing an Indian shipping line of global repute, restoration of facility for import of trimming and embellishments under customs notification No. 2/2021 dated 1st of February, 2021 and services rendered to foreign national and paid in free foreign currency to be given IGST /ITC Refund among others.
