India sets $340 billion merchandise export target for FY2014-15

 The Dollar Business Bureau | @TheDollarBiz The Indian government is targeting a growth of 8% in merchandise exports to $340 billion in FY2014-15, according to Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Commerce, Government of India. In the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2009-14, India had aimed at merchandise exports of $500 billion by FY2013-14 on the basis of strong growth fiver years ago, but revised the target last year to $325 billion due to a decline in industrial growth, higher cost of credit, rupee depreciation, and sluggish global economic growth. Sitharaman said that the Euro Zone Crisis and the global slowdown had an adverse impact on India’s overall trade last year, but India is better prepared now. “While the global environment still remains challenging, policy action in India has been repositioned so as to better tackle the negative impact of external shocks,” she said. The total value of India’s exports in FY2013-14 stood at $465.90 billion, which includes merchandise exports of $314.40 billion and services exports of $151.5 billion. This year, India’s merchandise exports are expected to grow to $340 billion, while services exports are expected to reach $160 billion, which will take India’s overall exports to $500 billion in FY2014-15, up about 7% from the previous year.

Source - Ministry of Commerce, India

Currently, India is the world’s 19th largest exporter (with a share of 1.7%) and 12th largest importer (with a share of 2.5%) in merchandise trade. In commercial services, India is the 6th largest exporter (with a share of 3.3%) and 7th largest importer (with a share of 2.9%). “India’s share in world trade (Merchandise and Services) has increased from 1.77% in 2008 to 2.27% in 2013. Our goal is to raise this to 3.5% by 2018-19,” Sitharaman said. She also said that the government has taken several steps to boost exports including: improved (Electronic Data Interface) EDI connectivity in ports, deadlines for completion of activities relating to SEZs developers and units, procedural simplification in the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), capacity building of new entrepreneurs to become exporters, mainstreaming of States in trade, and building Brand India. The New Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) (2014-19) will be released soon and will focus on products which are winners and potential winners, she added.

 This article was published on September 10, 2014.