Turning adversity into opportunity, India has recorded highest-ever merchandise exports of $95 billion in the April-June quarter of current fiscal year (FY22).
This is 85 per cent higher than exports of Q1 of 2020-21 and 18 per cent higher than the exports of Q1 of 2019-20. It is also 16 per cent more than the previous highest Q1 exports of 2018-19 ($82 billion) and is higher than the earlier peak of exports in Q4 of 2020-21 ($90 billion).
Commerce and Industry Ministry Piyush Goyal said that sector specific interventions, involvement of all the stakeholders and functioning of the government as a whole helped in achieving the growth.
Simplification of procedures, and extension of timelines and licences has also resulted in the record performance of exports, he added.
The minister also said that going by the performance in first quarter of the fiscal, an ambitious target of $400 billion exports has been set for 2021-22.
In the first quarter period, several labour intensive sectors have seen a rapid export growth. The exports in the engineering goods sector has increased by $5.2 billion over Q1 of 2019-20. Likewise, rice exports growth has remained positive since May 2020 and rose by 37 per cent in Q1 of 2021-22 compared to Q1 of 2019-20.
India showcased robust export performance in April 2020 compared to major economies of the world. As compared to April 2019, India's exports growth during April 2021 was higher than other major advanced economies like the European Union, Japan, the US, South Korea, and the UK.