|
|
'Mfg sector must become more competitive for export growth'
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 28 Aug, 2015
Terming the fall in India's export growth as "disturbing", Vice
President Hamid Ansari on Thursday said the domestic manufacturing
sector needs to become more competitive to take the country back on a
higher export growth trajectory.
"Five years ago India's export
story looked strong and convincing. Merchandise exports grew at a
healthy annual average growth rate of 22 percent in the five years
preceding the crisis.
"After a small blip in 2010, exports
smartly recovered and grew at 30 percent in the next two years post the
crisis. However, since 2013, India's export growth has stalled," Ansari
said addressing the 194th annual general meeting of the Calcutta Chamber
of Commerce.
He noted export growth rate fell to about 1.2
percent in 2013 and 2014, and this trend has continued in 2015 with
exports growing at an average rate of 2.2 percent year to date.
"This fall in exports growth is disturbing," he said.
"To get back on a higher export growth trajectory, we in India would need to improve manufacturing competitiveness."
He
said India now exports fewer price-sensitive items such as textiles,
leather, etc. and more income-sensitive items such as chemicals,
engineering goods and petroleum products, making its export basket more
income-elastic.
Refering to UNIDO's CIP (Competitiveness of
Industrial Production) that measures the ability of countries to produce
and export manufactured goods competitively, Ansari said while India's
CIP score has improved from 0.04 in 2000 to 0.07 in 2010, China's rating
has jumped from 0.16 in 2000 to 0.33 in 2010.
"Similarly, while
India has managed to increase its share in world manufacturing value
added from 1.1 percent in 2000 to 2.0 percent in 2010, China more than
doubled its share from 6.7 percent to 15.0 percent over the same
period."
He said the Make in India campaign launched by the
central government has the vision and the faith in India's ability to
achieve the goal of becoming a manufacturing export hub.
"However,
this is just the beginning and more concrete steps need to be taken to
achieve the desired objective. Emphasis on the manufacturing sector,
especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be critical to
India's export growth.
"SMEs account for 40 percent of India's
manufacturing exports and 45 percent of manufacturing output, but lack
of access to credit, poor technology and difficulties in hiring skilled
labour are thwarting their growth," he added.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|