Exporters’ association FIEO viewed that there is an urgent need for an export fiscal package so as to revive foreign trade of the country.

FIEO President Mr Sharad Kumar Saraf said that as the global trade forecast still shows a gloomy picture, there is an urgent and immediate need for a special exports package for reviving India’s foreign trade.

Besides creation of an Export Development Fund with 1% percent corpus of the total value of exports during the last fiscal, MEIS of 2% across the board and 4% for labour-intensive sectors and addressing "risky exporters" issues apart from quickly deciding on RoDTEP rates are some of key concerns, which should be immediately considered to give a much-needed boost to the exports sector and the overall economy, he added.

Reacting to July exports, Saraf said that monthly figures have further consolidated as continuous arrest in the decline of exports have led to a lower double-digit negative growth of just 10.21 percent with USD 23.64 billion as against very high negative double-digit growth during April and May this fiscal.

Saraf said that all this has been possible because of the start of business activities across the country and business/order enquiries from almost all major economies like US, EU, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand which has helped in bringing the exports sector to almost 90% of the level in July 2019.

Though the monthly exports data depicts a lower double-digit decline in exports, but it must be seen in the context of the recovery that has exceeded our expectation as the government through constant interaction with exporters has been understanding and more importantly addressing the exporters’ problems, added FIEO Chief.

Saraf however feels that the global revival and business sentiments still have not picked up, impacting the global supply chain. He is of the view that the focus should be on FTAs and more of multi-lateral agreements to further revive our exports and take up competition coming from smaller countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh and Taiwan.

16 out of the 30 major product groups were in positive territory during July 2020 and imports during the month showed a high double-digit decline of 28.40 percent with USD 28.47 billion.