Sharma sees exports missing 2008-09 level by $20bn.

NEW DELHI: Commerce minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday said a pick-up in exports since November will help curtail the shortfall created by a negative trend in the preceding months but would still leave a gap of $20 billion compared to 2008-09 figures.

"We have suffered losses... (but) the shortfall will be made up to a large extent,'' Sharma said at a conference on rural business organised by business chamber Ficci. Exports pulled back from a negative trend from November. "We have consolidated since then and every month exports are becoming stronger.''

Merchandise shipments have aggregated $132 billion during the April-January period. The monthly shipments average at $14 billion from the time the trend became positive in November 2009. Demand for Indian goods had drastically fallen since October 2008 due to the global economic slowdown.

Even if further improvement is seen in the February-March period, exports in the current fiscal could end up between $160-165 billion against $185 billion in 2008-09. Sharma said global studies suggest the world merchandise trade is likely to contract between 12% and 16% this year.

Sharma said global investors were getting better returns from India and foreign direct investments (FDI) inflows this fiscal were likely to equal those of 2008-09. India had attracted $27.3 billion foreign investment in the last financial year.

Sharma said industry had started investing in the food processing sector. As per estimates, about 40% of 130 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables produced in the country annually perish due to lack of storage and processing facilities.

Source : TOI