With the impact of global slowdown and dip in crude oil prices, India’s exports contracted for the seventh month in a row and dipped by 15.82 per cent in June to $22.28 billion as well. But the Government is hopeful that it would achieve the $900-billion exports target by 2019-20 by expediting infrastructure development process and formulating a trade policy in order to boost exports.
The Commerce Ministry on Wednesday asked states to expedite infrastructure development process and formulate a trade policy in order to boost exports. These issues, among others, were discussed during the meeting of senior officials of states, chaired by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia here.
“We have asked the state Government officials to increase the pace of modernising exports infrastructure like roads, ports and power. We have also urged them to appoint export commissioners and prepare their own trade policy,” an official in the Commerce Ministry said.
India’s exports also were down by 20.19 per cent to $22.34 billion in May this year. In June 2014, the merchandise exports had stood at $26.47 billion. The last time exports registered a positive growth was in November 2014 when shipments expanded at a rate of 7.27 per cent, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry.
Imports, too, declined by 13.40 per cent to $33.11 billion in June 2015 due to fall in oil and gold shipments. “Trade deficit narrowed to $10.82 billion in the month under review compared with $11.76 billion in June 2014,” the data said.
The prime reason continues to be low prices of crude, metal and commodity, and slowdown in western markets, he said. Also, oil imports dropped 34.97 per cent in June to $8.67 billion. Non-oil imports too came down by 1.85 per cent to $24.44 billion.
Exporters expressed serious concerns over the continuous decline and said the Government should act fast in taking measures to help arrest the dip. “It is matter of serious and grave concern as the decline is continuing. Government should immediately engage with the stakeholders to understand the reason behind decline and take steps to overcome the situation,” Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President SC Ralhan said.
The main exporting sectors which reported negative growth include petroleum products (about 53 per cent), engineering (about 5.5 per cent), leather and leather goods (about 5 per cent), and chemicals (1.26 per cent) in June.
In order to boost exports, the official said, “The Commerce Ministry has asked all states to focus on products which have good potential for exports. On the other hand, state Government officials should raise some issues related with special economic zones.”