India’s exports to decline in November by 15-20%: Expert

Deepak Kumar | The Dollar Business Bureau

To boost outbound shipments, the government had announced a 3% interest subsidy scheme for exporters of various sectors

  Even as the government has announced a 3% interest subsidy scheme for exporters, India’s outbound shipments in November is expected to shrink by 15-20%, an industry expert said. “Exports in November will almost be about 15-20% down. However, the rate of decline in terms of percentage may be less because exports for the month of November 2014 were very bad. When compared the November 2015 exports to that of the November 2014, I don’t think we will see any better figure,” S C Ralhan, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), told The Dollar Business. Last month, India’s outbound shipments contracted for the 11^th straight month by 17.53% to $21.35 billion from $39.46 billion in October 2014. Industry experts had attributed several factors, including a weak global demand and non-implementation of the interest subvention scheme, to the continuous decline in India’s outbound shipments. Exports during the period April-October 2015 were valued at $154.3 billion as compared to $187.3 billion, registering a decline of 17.62% over the corresponding period of the last fiscal. “Average decline from April to October this fiscal is over 17.5%. Exports started to decline from September 2014 onwards. Last year the total exports were about $315 billion; this time it may not cross even $260 billion. Even if the domestic exporters receive a bulk of orders, they can’t fill the gap,” Ralhan said. Earlier this month, the government had announced a 3% interest subsidy scheme applicable on all exports of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and 416 tariff lines. Several export bodies, including the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), had welcomed the initiative and said the rebate in interest rate for five years will help exporters plan their decisions and potential markets.  

November 30, 2015 | 4:45pm IST