SME Times News Bureau | 31 Mar, 2011
Nation's engineering exports grew by over 80 percent in the April-February period of the current fiscal which is expected to end with USD 57 billion.

An impressive performance in the engineering exports has come about on the back of a strong demand from the US and the developing markets of Latin American countries, exporters said.

Exports for the 11 month period of 2010-11 stood at USD 52.7 billion as against USD 29.14 billion in the last fiscal, according to the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) data.

In February 2011, the engineering exports grew by 75 percent to USD 7 billion compared to USD 4 billion in the same period last fiscal.

"We have been getting a good number of orders from the US, Latin American and Middle East markets. We expect exports to touch USD 57 billion by the end of the current fiscal," EEPC Executive Director R Maitra said.

These exports would have been still, higher if there were no financial problems in Europe. Of the USD 32.5 billion engineering exports in 2009-10, the US accounted for over 30 percent of the shipments. In its strategy to double India's exports to USD 450 billion by 2014, engineering exports are set to play a major role.

"The European market is still sluggish," Maitra said.