Commenting on the GDP data for the April-June, 2015 quarter which came at 7%, Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) has said that decline in merchandise exports by 16.75% which contributes about 15% of GDP and service exports by 7.08%, with a share of about 7.5% in GDP had pulled down the GDP growth by over 3%. FIEO President S C Ralhan, has said that the exports showed even the modest growth the GDP growth for the quarter would have touched 10%, meeting the aspiration of people.
Ralhan further stated that only if exports show an overall growth of at least 10% during the current fiscal the country will be able to achieve 8% growth in 2015-16. This at the moment looks challenging as first four months have produced negative results.
He said that interest subvention for exports should be introduced immediately and transition problems relating to schemes under new Foreign Trade Policy must be addressed expeditiously. Furthermore all the agencies should be involved in exports to work in tandem to facilitate exports. While looking at the problem of exports sector, the refund of VAT, CENVAT and Duty Drawback should be done immediately at the time of shipment. The base effect will help address exports decline in coming months, the volatility in Rupee will keep exporters on their toes, though order booking position has improved marginally.