The Commerce & Industry minister, Shri Suresh Prabhu today said that our exports have been constantly rising for last one year, despite global headwinds. ‘We must now achieve more. India’s export must drive India’s growth story’.
The minister was speaking today at the ‘Exports Summit- Brining in a new wave of growth’ organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi.
Adding further, the minister said, export has to be a combined effort. For the first time, the Government has prepared a complete plan of action for all the exporting ministries and has taken several measures to increase exports domestically. A think tank has been set up for the first time.
‘We are preparing sectoral export strategies and project specific strategies. Commodity and territory specific strategy is also being prepared. We are looking at boosting trade with smaller countries and explore new territories like Africa which has 54 countries but accounts for only 8 % of exports from India’, the minister added.
The Minister mentioned that global disruptions present opportunities to increase Indian exports. Touching on China the Minister also said that India and China are working together to resolve issues relating to market access. India and China will hold meetings Indian exporters soon to address their concerns relating to market access and trade regulations. Some progress has already been made with Indian rice exports being shipped to China.
Mr Alok V Chaturvedi, Director General of Foreign Trade, DGFT talked about the USD 100 bn additional export strategy which includes Champion products strategy of USD 76.56 bn for 178 products, market retention strategy for 197 products for more than USD 15 bn, 310 promising products with diversification and penetration strategy for USD 21 bn. Sharing the new initiatives by DGFT, he said, there has been a lot of actions taken including immediate IEC via email, MEIS sanction within 24 hours, eMEIS scrips, demat of MEIS scrips, EPCG licenses, anytime anywhere online export related courses, and more.
Addressing the summit, Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, President, CII said, India currently ranks at 146 out of 190 economies in the ‘Trading Across Borders’ parameter of the Doing Business index. There is massive scope for reduction in the transaction costs and dwell time. Equally important is to think around new transformational policies, including exchange rate strategy, WTO-compatible export subsidies, centre - state export strategies, and market promotion strategies and trade-related infrastructure.
Mr Sanjay Budhia, Chairman, CII National Committee on EXIM & Managing Director, Patton International Ltd while presenting the export industry concerns said, boosting exports is key to checking trade deficit and there is need to look at more ways to lower imports. Majority of the costs like raw material, shipping charges, warehousing and other related services are denominated in foreign currency or at Import Parity Price. Raw material prices have increased 35%. Similarly, there is need of policy reform for a sizeable growth of SEZs which contribute 25% of Indian exports.
New Delhi
26 October 2018