Dec exports show progress in economy, says FIEO chief

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 18

“The data of exports in December offers a glimpse of improvement in the economy, but global factors continue to be the key for exports sector,” says Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president SC Ralhan.

Talking to the Amritsar Tribune over phone, he said export figures, which reflected the continuous decline for more than a year now, seem to be gaining the lost ground. He added that the last December data showed some signs of improvement with a decline of 14.75 per cent as against 24.43 per cent during November last year.

“During the last couple of weeks there has been a significant decline in the cost of global commodities and crude oil prices recently,” he said adding that prices of these commodities were expected to go down further because of less demand in the global market and more supply of crude with lifting of sanctions on Iran.

Ralhan said the commodities and crude oil prices had more than 40 per cent bearing on India’s exports, which had further led to their continuous decline. Global demand also does not seem to be picking up. “With only countries like the US showing little signs of improvement, this does not augur well for the country’s export sector in the long-run,” said the FIEO president.

“The news of Chinese slowdown and Yuan devaluation has somewhat dented the sentiments of the exports sector. However, China’s December exports data shows a positive growth, which is a sign of encouragement,” he added.

He urged the government for immediate reconsideration of inverted duty structure to give a boost to make in India.