India’s exports began moving up in past 2 months: Teaotia

The Dollar Business Bureau

Exports from India, which have been on a declining spree for around one-and-a-half year, have started moving up gradually in the last two months, said Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia.

“India’s exports have been on a downward drive for around one and half years. This is the consequence of the slowdown across the globe and also the deviations in the prices of commodities,” Teaotia told journalists on Tuesday in Hyderabad.

“The prices of petroleum have come down. The prices of commodities have been moderate. The other area is that there is devaluation in some currencies, which in turn affected the level of India’s exports," she added.

“Nevertheless, we have begun to see that the growing of market that we ourselves have. Our policies now beginning to kick in, we are seeing that last couple of months actually have seen narrowing of margins exports slowdown and marginal increase in several of the commodities. So we hope that we have turned the corner and we should see an uptick in exports,” Teaotia said.
The commerce secretary was in Hyderabad for delivering a lecture at Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI).

Replying to a question on trade agreements, she said that it is ‘complex’ to conclude trade pacts with other nations and India has to look into all the aspects.

On Brexit, Teaotia said, “India has to reassess its position with regard to the ongoing discussions with the EU as our lines of interest of the two parties (India and the EU) may be amended.”

“Therefore, both the parties will need to recalibrate their positions. However, we are definitely keen to engage with Europe as well as with UK,” she said.

She also informed that India has till now finished 16 trade agreements and is in the process of reviewing or negotiating with other 19 countries.