Exports Growth To Ride On High Value Products .

As India gears up to surpass $500 billion exports by 2013-14, high-value products like engineering goods, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, petroleum products and basic chemicals will figure prominently in India’s export growth strategy.

Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar has been working on the strategy paper with an earlier target of doubling India’s export from $200 billion to $400 billion in three years. However, the target has been revised and commerce ministry is now aiming to achieve $500 billion by 2014 as India’s export will surpass $200 billion and will be close to $220 billion in 2010-11.

The average annual export is being contemplated at 28 per cent for the next three years. While the strategy paper will come out in a week or 10 days, centre has already shifted focus from traditional export items like handicrafts, textiles and carpets to high-value products.

“We had introduced a stimulus package for engineering and chemicals in January 2010. After that, there were additions of some new products and markets in August and February,” commerce secretary Rahul Khullar said.

Commerce ministry, on Friday, gave Rs 500 crore export incentives to 617 products. Of this, 375 new products, including agricultural tractors, inorganic chemicals, etc, will get 2 per cent benefit of FOB value of exports to 15 markets under Market Linked Focus product Scheme (MLFPS) in new markets like Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Ukraine, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Japan.

Though Khullar refused to divulge the strategy of commerce ministry going forward, he made it clear that it’s beneficial for India to quickly convert to high-value and manufacturing base has these will help to create more jobs in future.

The results of this shift is already evident with engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, petroleum and oil products, chemicals and gems and jewellery already constituting close to 60 per cent of India’s cumulative export between April and December 2010-11.

According to latest export numbers, engineering goods registered a cumulative growth of 70 per cent at $45 billion between April and January while petroleum products grew by 36 per cent to $30 billion and export of gems and jewellery registered a cumulative growth of 9.3 per cent to touch $24.5 billion. Export of pharmaceuticals went up by 14 per cent to $8.3 billion while export of basic chemicals increased by 23 per cent to $6.7 billion between April and January. Thus, export of these five categories alone stood at $114.5 billion.

Source : mydigitalfc.com