India's engineering exports, after declining for four months in a row, turned positive in August on the back of reviving demand in the traditional market Europe and emerging ones like Latin America and Africa. However, engineering’s exports registered a marginal growth of 2.18 per cent to $4.68 billion in the reported month on YoY basis. On cumulative basis, during April to August period, engineering exports declined by 4.2 percent to $22.72 billion over the same period of last fiscal.
Engineering goods exports which include exports of goods, transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products like castings, forgings and fasteners, constitute around one-fourth of the country's total merchandise shipments. The US and Europe together account for around 60 per cent of the country’s total engineering exports.
At present, the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) is concerned over the declining engineering exports as the domestic engineering sector suffers from severe technological obsolescence and lack of economies of scale. However, the council has sought setting up of a Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore in order to boost the sector exports. Further, the government, in the annual foreign trade policy, had also announced a slew of measures including sops for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and extension of the popular the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme to all sectors to boost shipments.
