FIEO | 16 Feb, 2023
Though
monthly January 2023 merchandise exports continue to remain in the
negative territory, dipping by 6.58 percent at USD 32.91 compared to USD
35.23 billion of January 2022, however April-January FY 2022-23 exports
rose by 8.51 percent to USD 369.25 billion.
Reacting to the merchandise
exports, FIEO President, Dr A Sakthivel said that monthly exports
continue to remain in the negative territory mainly on account of
global slowdown and rising inflation giving dent to the international
demand. As expected, the challenges still continue due to recession like
situation in most economies across the world.
Dr Sakthivel added that
the decline in exports during the month is also a reflection of the
continued geo-political tensions between Russia and Ukraine, tightening
global financial conditions and contraction in demand. High inventories
and volatility in currencies has further added to such a challenging
situation. FIEO President is also of the view that though the coming
months are going to be little challenging unless both global economic
growth and geopolitical situation improves drastically, however we will
be on course to cross the previous year’s export target quite easily
touching almost USD 440-445 billion with a growth of over 4-5 percent
this fiscal.
Under merchandise exports, 14 of the top 30 key product sectors have
exhibited positive growth in January 2023 with key sectors including
Electronic Goods, Oil Meals, Oil Seeds, Iron Ore, Rice, Fruits &
Vegetables, Cashew, Tobacco, Ceramic Products & Glassware, Petroleum
Products, Marine Products, Other Cereals, Spices and Tea.
While 17 out
of the 30 key product sectors have exhibited positive growth during the
April-January 2022-23, which is impressive looking at the current
scenario. Decline in imports by 3.63 percent to USD 50.66 billion during
January 2023 as against USD 52.57 billion in January 2022 is indeed a
positive sign, thereby putting much lesser burden on trade deficit
front.
Decline in imports during the January 2023 has been mainly
because of decline in imports of Gold, Electronic Goods, Pearls,
Precious & Semi-precious stones, Silver and Organic and Inorganic
Chemicals. Energy prices in recent times have seen some volatility due
to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which is also a point of concern as
both energy and fertilizer prices may further go up globally, though
much of the crude supplies to India is coming from Russia, opined FIEO
Chief.
Dr Sakthivel added that in the current situation, the focus should be
on providing easy liquidity at competitive cost, restoration of the
Interest Equalization support to 5% and 3% respectively, IGST exemption
on freight on exports, which lapsed on 30th September, extension of
tenure of PCFC from 180 days to 365 days and notification of RoDTEP
rates for the holders of Advance Authorization, DFIA and EOU units.
Further, the Federation is also of the view that the new TMA scheme for
agri exporters and announcement on allocation of export development
fund with a corpus of Rs 5000 Cr for aggressive overseas marketing by
MSME to showcase Indian products globally is the need of the hour. He
stressed on the need to support exports at the district level with
sizeable support for the District as an Export Hub scheme to bridge the
supply side gaps.