The annual merchandise
exports of India have reached USD 400 billion for the first time. This is the target achieved, which was set by the government nine days ahead of schedule. The milestone arrives even as Commerce & Industry Ministry, Mr. Goyal warned that the Russia-Ukraine war could lead to some disruption in trade.
Today to modern economies,
exports are incredibly imperative as it offers the citizens of the country and organizations many more markets for their products. A core function of diplomacy & foreign policy between governments is to promote
economic trade while encouraging exports & imports for the benefit of all trading parties.
What plays a major role in revenue generation, as well as economic growth of a country, is the amount of merchandise it exports and many economists have highlighted those higher exports help economies to grow rapidly in terms of GDP as well as domestic output.
Furthermore, experts claim that exports significantly help a nation in boosting its per capita income, as it is highly essential in the generation of higher domestic income as well as demand. Higher exports also enable in creating huge employment opportunities, which ultimately translate into higher GDP growth. Hence, a healthy export cycle will help in significantly boost a nation’s economic growth, however only if imports are not exceeding the outflow of goods.
Improvement in merchandise exports
A major factor that had a significant role to play in the recovery of the country’s economy is the improvement in merchandise exports. Owing to this there has been a steady recovery even after the 2nd wave of the Covid-19 pandemic which dented the GDP growth outlook.
Merchandise exports from the country reached a record high of USD 35.2 billion last year in the month of July. This was the highest ever monthly
figure ever in the history of India.
On the 23rd of March as the country achieved its highest ever goods export target of USD 400 billion, the government is confident of reaching USD 410 billion of exports by March 31st since India has been shipping out goods which are worth more than USD 1 billion a day.
The Indian Prime Minister was quick to hail the exporters and he praised the weavers, manufacturers, farmers, MSMEs, and others for their success.
"India set an ambitious target of $400 Billion of goods exports and achieves this target for the first time. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers, exporters for this success. This is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
A detailed strategy
Mr. Piyush Goyal stated that a detailed strategy was in place in order to achieve the target, this included specific country-wise, product-wise, as well as export promotion council-wise targets, monitoring, & course correction.
He also mentioned that higher engineering exports, apparel, and garment export, showed that the misconception of the country being a major exporter of primary commodities is now changing and India is now exporting a huge volume of value-added and high-end products.
The top 5 five commodities exported from India included petroleum products, chemicals, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, & ready-made garments of all textiles.
What remained the biggest export item was the exports of engineering goods. This rose from 32 percent in the first 11 months during this fiscal period when compared to that of the last financial year. And in this category, the top exports included electric machinery, iron & steel, motor vehicles, and aluminium & aluminium products.
While the increase in trend in exports is praiseworthy, the momentum is likely to sustain with proactive measures that include the signing of Free-Trade Agreements as well as expansion of the flagship export promotion scheme RoDTEP to industries such as pharma and iron & steel.
In a reply during the question hour in Lok Sabha in February, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, "For 10th month in a row, April 2021 to January 2022, India has posted over USD 30 billion of exports. It is a record; we have already crossed USD 334 billion of exports which is more than the highest ever that India has done in a full 12 months period. We are well on track to achieve USD 400 billion of exports.”
Furthermore, in the current fiscal year, a range of initiatives, that are handpicked specifically for maximizing export earnings and establishing dominance in key markets, is being pushed by the Commerce Department.
