Export numbers below expectations: FIEO president.

"The export numbers are much below our expectations. The decline in exports is due to an amalgamation of factors such as sluggish manufacturing, contraction in global demand and restriction on current & capital account in few countries in Latin America," said, M Rafeeque Ahmed, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

President, FIEO said that the decline in global prices of commodities and metals have also played a role as the finished products made out of it fetched lower prices as compared to a year before. India's export to Latin America is down by over 20%. Many economies witnessed contraction in imports including China, Russia, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil. Exports of Gems & Jewellery and Petroleum products suffered due to lower prices of their inputs.

FIEO chief said that withdrawal of GSP benefit to many of the Indian export products in EU in the month of January-February, 2014 may have also played a role in slowdown of exports. The recent changes in Merchanting Trade and Third party/Country exports regulations have also added to the woes of exporters and impacted exports added Ahmed.

Ahmed said that exports may finally end up between USD 310-315 billion much below the target of USD 325 billion fixed for the current fiscal. However, the recent HSBC composite index for manufacturing for India for February 2014 augur well for exports in coming months.

Ahmed again reiterated that investment in manufacturing should be encouraged to keep exports on track. The flow of credit and credit at internationally bench mark trade should be made available for MSME sector.

Source : myiris.com​