Regular review of exports to be carried out.

NEW DELHI: The government will carry out regular reviews of five key export sectors to measure the impact of global developments, such as the recent debt crisis in Greece, on their performance.

The commodities division of the commerce ministry will track gems & jewellery, textiles, pharmaceuticals, engineering and agriculture products to make timely policy interventions if anything goes wrong for these sectors, which account for more than half of India’s export earnings.

“The commerce secretary has asked the commodities division to carry out these reviews. If required, one or two more sectors could be added to the list,” said a commerce department official, who asked not to be named.

These reviews will be in addition to those being carried out by the department for all sectors to determine if there was a need for additional incentives to aid their recovery from the global downturn. India’s exports suffered greatly from the global recession that affected some of the largest importing nations.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma had announced earlier this year that additional incentives could be given to sectors such as handicrafts, which are yet to recover from the slowdown.

Export growth of all goods had slipped into negative territory in October 2008 and registered falls for 13 straight months. Although it stayed positive since November 2009, the growth is mainly due to a low-base effect as the actual export figures are much lower than those achieved in the corresponding months of 2008.

“The proposed review of the five important sectors will be a continuos attempt of the government to keep track of the developments in the areas which matter to our economy,” the commerce department official said.

While gems & jewellery, textiles, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods are the top performing sectors, agriculture products have immense strategic importance as two-thirds of the country’s population is dependent on the farm sector for livelyhood.

“Gems & jewellery, engineering and textiles exports have picked up since last year, but they are still to reach the pre-crisis levels,” the official said.

Exports in April 2010 were $16.9 billion that is much higher than exports worth $12.4 billion in April 2009, but is way below the previous April’s level of $18.5 billion.

Source : The Economic Times