Exports decline 8.9% in first two months of current fiscal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

A delegation of exporters met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the backdrop of declining exports and the government has agreed to provide competitiveness to Indian exports.

According to a FIEO statement, the Finance Minister assured to look into the matter with a view to impart competitiveness to exports. Jaitley also said Indian exports have declined consequent to decline in imports of our major trading partners.

For agriculture exports, Finance Minister agreed to look into the issue of providing support in respect of commodities in which MSP is much above the international prices so as to provide an avenue for their exports.

In the wake of continuous fall in growth of exports for the past six months, a delegation of exporters led by FIEO president SC Ralhan met the Finance Minister to apprise him of the tough global scenario and domestic constraints responsible for decline in exports.

According to a FIEO statement, Ralhan informed the Finance Minister that even excluding petroleum exports, the overall exports exhibited a decline of 8.9% in the first two months of the current fiscal while non-oil imports showed a growth of 4.3%.

The order booking position of the Indian companies is not encouraging which reflect the challenges to be faced by the export sector in the following months and its impact on the employment in the sector.

The important issues discussed by the FIEO included the high cost of credit which needs to be addressed immediately by introducing Interest Subvention Scheme from April, 2015 and availability of pre-shipment credit in foreign currency (PCFC) for MSME. For augmenting liquidity of the export sector, FIEO suggested for the refund of duty drawback, CENVAT refund and service tax refund within 10 days. The Finance Minister was supportive of both the issues and ensured timely action in the matter, FIEO said.