Amid slump in global demand, India’s exports of the top five sectors which include engineering, petroleum, gems and jewelery, textiles and pharmaceuticals declined by 31 percent to $13.6 billion in the month of September . In September last year, exports of these sectors stood at $19.7 billion. As per data compiled by Commerce Ministry, engineering exports growth turned negative (-) 22.81 per cent, petroleum - 60.35 per cent, textiles -12 per cent and gems and jewellery -18.81 per cent in September. However, pharmaceuticals sector managed to register a growth of 9 per cent in September.
In the last financial year, these five sectors accounted 65 per cent of the total merchandise exports and stood at $202.15 billion while the total exports were $310.5 billion. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), while expressing concerns over continuous dip in exports has said that the government should immediately announce steps like extending interest subsidy benefits to contain the dip in exports.
Decline in exports has been instrumental in dragging down India's overall merchandise exports. Indian exports contracting for the 10th month in a row, dipped 24.33 per cent in September to $21.84 billion. The significant fall in country's exports was mainly due to steep fall in shipments of petroleum products, iron ore, and engineering goods amid tepid global demand. The continuous decline in exports is expected to impact jobs and put pressure on the current account deficit.
The Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry held a meeting in Goa recently to review India's exports performance and to discuss issues related to continuous dip in exports and ways to boost the country’s exports. Further, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the concern that China has been making efforts to stall India's exports through non-tariff barriers such as phytosanitary stipulations and standardisation issues.
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