Hope rides on new government

Even as domestic economy is showing early signs of recovery, India’s exports that fell 33.3 per cent in March, are unlikely to gather steam in the current year.

Even as domestic economy is showing early signs of recovery, India’s exports that fell 33.3 per cent in March, are unlikely to gather steam in the current year. How can they, when the global trade is expects a contraction of 11 per cent in 2009, as International Monetary Fund in its latest projections said.

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The good news, however, is that the foreign trade policy to be announced by the next government would spell out concrete steps to ensure that the situation does not go out of control, said a senior official.

That apart, the Reserve Bank of India too is keeping a close watch on how exports are behaving, the official said.

Sectors like gems and jewellery, garments and handicrafts are the worst impacted by the slowdown.

Exporters have already started looking for newer markets to offset the loss. According to Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), exporters have identified other markets like South Africa, Japan, China, Russia and Brazil.

“Garment exports from India have fallen 14 per cent and have not been able to meet the target of $11.6 billion for 2008-09 because hundreds of retail stores have shut down in the US and European Union,” Rakesh Vaid, chairman, AEPC said.