Coronavirus impact | Export from SEZs plunge, over a third of orders cancelled: Report.

The COVID-19 outbreak and consequent lockdown caused exports from units in special economic zones (SEZs) to plummet in April.

Exports from such units fell more than 50 percent with more than a third of the orders cancelled, according to a BusinessLine report.

The paper cited an internal survey conducted by the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES).

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

Exports will continue to decline without further relaxations, manufacturers told BusinessLine.

Though SEZs have been permitted to resume operations with certain conditions on staffing and hygiene, as some states continue to seal borders and place further restrictions.

"Recently, we sent a circular to all our members asking them to send us information on the exports from their units in April 2020 and the percentage of orders that got cancelled," Anand Giri, Deputy Director General, EPCES, told the paper.

"We got responses from 104 members. There has been a 51.64 per cent decline in export orders while 36.6 per cent of orders have been cancelled during the month," Giri added.

EPCES collected data on exports from the National Securities Depository (NSDL), the report said.

NSDL data revealed that while exports from IT/ITES zones in April rose 7.25 percent to Rs 34,022 crore as against the same month last year, those from manufacturing units fell a sharp 58.63 percent.