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Exporters see the back of a downturn
After nearly 12 months of a downturn caused by recession in advanced economies, 2010 saw the tide turn in favour of exporters.
After nearly 12 months of a downturn caused by recession in advanced economies, 2010 saw the tide turn in favour of exporters.
“If you look at all the big-ticket export items — whichever you want to pick up — cumulatively, all of them had good growth rate during April-November,” said Rahul Khullar, commerce secretary, summing up the “real interesting story” of 2010-11.
So much so that the value of exports is expected to exceed the targetted $200 billion in the current fiscal year. It was $179 billion last fiscal year.
“Exports may reach a new milestone of $220 billion this fiscal, increasing the country’s share in world trade," said A Sakthivel, president, Federation of Indian Export Organsiations
The actual recovery was visible from the first quarter of 2010-11, helped by a turnaround in the US and European markets and increase in global commodity prices. Thanks to a demand pick-up in the western stores and production facilities, merchandise shipments went up by 26.7% to $140 billion between April and November.
In fact, it was for the first time over a long period that exports grew faster than imports, which expanded by 24% in eight months of 2010-11, Khullar said.
