India’s engineering exports has declined by 10 per cent to $4.5 billion in April from $5 billion recorded in the same month of previous fiscal year, owing to sluggish demand in western markets. In FY13, the engineering exports also declined by 3 per cent to $56.7 billion.
Engineering goods exports which include exports of goods, transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products like castings, forgings and fasteners, constitutes around one-fourth of the country's total merchandise shipments. The US and Europe together account for 60 per cent of the country’s total engineering exports.
Indian exporters are getting less number of orders as the demand is still weak in the US and European markets. The global economic crisis, sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the economic slowdown in developed economies are the major reasons contracting the engineering goods exports. Although, the domestic exporters have found new markets in Africa and Latin America, but they are cautious due to reasons such as fear of payment default.
Concerned over the declining export, the export council feels that the government needs to take urgent steps to boost exports from the sector in the coming years. In the annual foreign trade policy, the government had announced a slew of measures to boost the country’s export. These measures include sops for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and extension of the popular EPCG scheme to all sectors to boost shipments.
