Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that exports growth rate in India have been increasing despite adverse global circumstances and headwinds and added that efforts are being made to offset any impact on domestic exports due to rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. She also said that the government will come out with amendments to the foreign trade policy (FTP) to align it with the new tax regime, which is to be rolled out from July 1.
The minister said that since September last year, Indian exports are consistently going up. She said “I can see this as a clear indicator that our exporters are performing against all odds and showing their capacity to withstand any headwinds and the global situation.” She also expressed her hopes that the country would achieve the target of doubling India’s exports to $900 billion by 2020.
Sitharaman said that global situation has not improved drastically and pointed out that even if there are green shoots that people are seeing and saying that there are prospects that world trade might improve, it is yet to be significantly felt by others. She noted that even in this type of environment, Indian exporters are doing well. In the financial year 2016-17, while Indian merchandise shipments aggregated at $275 billion, services exports grew by 3.4 per cent to $160.68 billion.