Measures like trade pacts, lower cost of capital to help boost India’s exports to $2 trillion by 2030: PHDCCI

Expressing optimism over India’s exports growth, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in its latest report has said that measures like comprehensive trade pacts, reduction in cost of capital, power, and land reforms will help boost the country’s exports of goods and services to $2 trillion by 2030. The report also recommended schemes for 75 potential export products including marine items, iron ore, some chemicals, pharma, cotton, aluminium, and tankers to promote shipments. It said ‘the 75 products have been identified from nine most promising sectors. These products contribute around $222 billion, which is around 50 per cent of India's total exports. At the global level, these 75 products have significant presence in world exports, whereas India's share of these products is only 6 per cent of the total world exports’.

The report - ‘India's Emerging Export Dynamics: Vision USD 2 Trillion Exports by 2030’ added that India's service exports have traditionally been concentrated in North America and Europe, but growing continents like Asia, Africa, and Latin America also offer plenty of scope for growth. It said ‘New free trade agreement should be comprehensive as it will expand and offer diversification as India has a comparative advantage in the service sector’, and added such pacts will offer a more balanced opportunity for the country's competitive services sector. It said that a cut in repo rate will lower the lending rates which will reduce the cost of capital for the businesses leading to an increase in domestic demand and enhancing the competitiveness of producers in the domestic market and exporters in the international market.

The report also said that due to steps taken by the government, costs associated with getting electricity have reduced significantly over the years. However, the per unit charges of power are still significantly high. It suggested that the government should focus on skill development of human resources which will increase the efficiency and productivity, increasing the competitiveness of firms in the international and domestic market. On export infrastructure, it suggested that the infrastructure is not that much adequate given the rise in the export in the recent years and rail and ports are needed to be upgraded and scaled up to reduce the logistic cost in the country. Further, it said the emerging high growth destinations such as Togo, the Netherlands, Brazil, Israel, Indonesia, Turkey, Australia, and South Africa would enhance India's export growth.