The country's exports will range between $265-270 billion in 2015-16, sharply lower than the $310.5 billion achieved in the previous fiscal, exporters' body FIEO said on Thursday.
“According to our assessment exports for the current fiscal will range between $265-270 billion. If this trend continues it may lead to job losses,” FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai told PTI. Exports contracted for 13th month in a row in December 2015 as outward shipments shrank 14.75 per cent to $22.2 billion amid a global demand slowdown.
Sahai demanded that the corpus of the exports development fund which currently stands at Rs200 crore should be enhanced to Rs3,000-5,000 crore as it was inadequate. “The export development fund which currently has a corpus of Rs200 crore is inadequate and should be enhanced to 0.5 to 1 per cent of export value which is anywhere between Rs3,000 to Rs5,000 crore. Commerce Ministry has supported this demand.”