India's exports expected to improve in coming months: Govt

India's exports, after declining for over a year, are expected to improve in the coming months even as global slowdown continues, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.

India's exports, after declining for over a year, are expected to improve in the coming months even as global slowdown continues, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.

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"The government expects the position to improve in the coming months," he said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

Sharma said the country's merchandise exports which had declined by 38.9 per cent in May 2009 are showing signs of improvements and the downturn was been arrested to a single digit in October this year.

"The progressive reduction in the decline indicates that while the impact of global recession is still continuing on our exports, the steps taken by the government and RBI are contributing to arrest the steep decline in exports. The government expects the position to improve further in the coming months," he said.

Despite the global recession, Sharma said he expects exports to grow by 15 per cent in the next fiscal.

He further said that sectors like handicraft, handloom and gems and jewellery sectors suffered badly due to recession and witnessed job crunch between October 2008 and March 2009.