On Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced fresh measures to spur exports. There have been many such measures announced over the years, with hardly any impact. Indeed, exports of non-petroleum products, at $22.8 billion in August 2019, were only marginally higher than the $22.7 billion of non-oil exports notched up as far back as September 2014. There’s clearly a crying need for policies to boost exports, but the proof of the latest pudding doled out by the government is in the eating.
The accompanying chart shows how the share of non-petroleum product merchandise exports as a share of India’s GDP has come down, especially after 2016-17. This is in part due to sluggish world trade, but also the result of the twin disruptions of demonetisation and the Goods & Services Tax.
The chart also shows that the share of non-oil, non-gold & silver imports has been falling as a share of GDP. The fall in the first quarter of the current financial year has been particularly steep and is an indication of the weakness of domestic demand.
Source: moneycontrol.com