Showing the clear dismal picture of the country's outbound merchandise shipments, India’s Exports in the current financial year 2015-16 are expected to decline about 13 per cent to $270 billion due to global demand slowdown and fall in crude oil prices. The figure was mentioned by commerce secretary Rita Teaotia at a meeting with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, (Ficci) among other groupings.
If exports of petroleum products are excluded, then the decline in exports is only 9.6 per cent in dollars. Rita Teaotia has also said that the imports during the fiscal would stand around $ 390 billion. So the trade deficit would aggregate at $120-125 billion in 2015-16. The secretary throws light on India's dismal export performance in the wake of slowing global demand. Falling imports and exports have an impact on manufacturing and this is substantiated by the manufacturing data. Further the declining exports would have implications for the job market.
According to exporters body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), in the financial year 2008-09, the country's outbound shipments were less than $270 billion, around $210 billion. In 2014-15, India’s merchandise exports were $310.5 billion. Exports have fallen over the past one year and in November; they shrank by a quarter from a year earlier to $20 billion, while imports declined 30% to almost $30 billion.