India’s exports contracted for the ninth successive month plunging by 27.7 per cent in June as the government firmed up plans to meet top industrialists to thrash out the broad contours of a foreign trade policy in a shrinking world market.
This was the ninth successive monthly contraction plunging by 27.7 per cent in June as the government firmed up plans to meet top industrialists to thrash out the broad contours of trade policy in a shrinking world market.
June exports totalled $ 12.81 billion, compared with $17.73 billion a year earlier, data released on Monday showed.
Shrinking world demand has affected India’s handicrafts, gems and jewellery, leather and textile exports severely during the current financial year.
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma is scheduled to meet industrialists and exports on August 10 to discuss annual changes to trade policy which are expected to be announced later this month.
In the Union Budget last month, a worried government had announced the extension of an existing subsidised bank loan scheme and widened the list of tax free services for embattled exporters.
The government also widened the service tax exemption net for exporters to help traders reduce transaction costs to stay competitive in the world market. Exporters can claim tax refund under the plan.
The president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Harsh Pati Singhania, termed the fall in exports as “disturbing.”
“It is imperative that the forthcoming foreign trade policy addresses exporters’ difficulties effectively and the momentum in export growth be restored,” Singhania said.
In a not of solace for exporters, international rating agency Moody’s said exports were likely to revive later this year.
“As global prospects are now improving, especially with the US economic contraction easing, India's exports may begin to recover later in the year,” Moody's said in a statement.
Source : Hindustan Times