SME Times News Bureau | 12 Mar, 2014
The February exports numbers are much
below expectations and investment in manufacturing should be encouraged to keep
exports on track, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president M
Rafeeque Ahmed, said Tuesday.
Responding to the Trade Data for the
month of February, Ahmed said that the decline in exports is due to an
amalgamation of factors such as sluggish manufacturing, contraction in global
demand and restriction on current & capital account in few countries in
Latin America.
He said that the decline in global
prices of commodities and metals have also played a role as the finished
products made out of it fetched lower prices as compared to a year before.
India's export to Latin America is
down by over 20%. Many economies witnessed contraction in imports
including China, Russia, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil.
Exports of Gems & Jewellery and
Petroleum products suffered due to lower prices of their inputs.
The FIEO Chief said that withdrawal
of GSP benefit to many of the Indian export products in EU in the month of
January-February, 2014 may have also played a role in slowdown of exports.
The recent changes in Merchanting
Trade and Third party/Country exports regulations have also added to the woes
of exporters and impacted exports added Ahmed.
He said that exports may finally end
up between US$ 310 -- 315 billion much below the target of US$ 325 billion fixed
for the current fiscal. However, the recent HSBC
composite index for manufacturing for India for February 2014
augurs well for exports in coming months.
Mr Ahmed again reiterated that investment in manufacturing should be encouraged
to keep exports on track. The flow of credit and credit at internationally
bench mark trade should be made available for MSME sector.
