India Sets $450 Bn Export Target By 2014.

The government today released a draft strategy paper for doubling exports to $450 billion by 2014, a move towards managing the widening trade deficit, which presently stands around $115 billion as per the estimates.

“The reason of taking this initiative is because of widening balance of trade. We hope to close that and bring the dis-balance in trade to below 10 per cent or 9 per cent of the GDP,” commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said while releasing the draft paper, the comments on which have been sought by March 23. A final strategy would be made by March 31.

In the current fiscal, India's exports is expected to touch $225 billion, he said. India's exports in the 2009-10 fiscal was $178.6 billion, a decline of 3.6 per cent over the previous fiscal.

The draft paper said though the proportion of merchandise trade to GDP will increase to nearly 48 per cent in 2013-14 from the present 35 per cent, the trade deficit “is projected to increase from 7.2 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 to nearly 13 per cent of GDP in 2013-14...We have therefore no option but to focus on higher export growth and devise a strategy for rapidly increasing merchandise exports to ensure that the BoT and current account deficit remain within manageable limits”.

Source : indianexpress.com