NEW DELHI: With exports showing no signs of revival in view of the global recession and economic slowdown, the revised export target of $175 billion has also come under pressure. The trends in February indicate it would be a tough task to achieve this target as exports are expected to register a sharp 21 per cent decline in February indicating a bad time for Indian goods in the developed markets.
Although the official figures for February are still not out, officials in the Ministry of Commerce are convinced that things are not moving at the required pace and exports had come under pressure especially due to fall in demand in U.S. and European markets. Figures compiled by the Ministry indicate that in February, India’s exports are estimated to have dipped by 21 per cent, the fifth consecutive decline in a row and the biggest contraction this fiscal.
Ministry officials said exports in the penultimate month of 2008-09 were set to shrink to about $11 billion compared to $14.23 billion in the same period last year putting the even truncated exports target of $175 billion for the year under pressure. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had last month ruled out meeting the $200-billion target set earlier.
Exports for April-January 2008-09 have aggregated $144.26 billion, showing a growth of 13.2 per cent.
After showing impressive gains till September 2008-09, exports went into the negative zone from October when the contraction was 12.1 per cent.
November and December also saw shrinking of volume as against the comparable months in the previous fiscal.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has already expressed concern over the developments and has stated that this trend is likely to continue in the first half of 2009-10.
Source : The Hindu