Government should review free trade agreements and come out with a fresh strategy to stem continuous fall in exports, industry body Assocham said on Thursday. It said that going by the trend the country’s exports in 2016-17, would be down to the level of 2010-11.
“With a 16-18 per cent contraction, exports will aggregate around $260 billion, a level quite close to $251 billion attained in 2010-11. This is the lowest since the exports broke the $300 billion-mark for the first time in 2011-12,” Assocham said in a statement. It has given this detail as part of the feedback to the Rajya Sabha for Examination of Demand for Grants for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for 2016-17. Dropping for the 15th month in a row, exports dipped by 5 per cent in February.
“How se3vere is the situation can be gauged from a possibility that it would take another few years, maybe not before 2017-18, before we retrieve the export levels achieved 2011-12. That would be a seven-year reversal,” Assocham said. It said that while the external sector would remain challenging, new game plan including review of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) should be devised.