Lok Sabha Question No. 1517 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-05
Subject: Export Target
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: M. B. RAJESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1517 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05 th  MARCH,2018

## EXPORT TARGET

## 1517. SHRI M.B. RAJESH:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाͨणÏय एवं उɮयोग मंğी ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has set any export target for 2025;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the current and the required rate of growth of exports;
- (c) whether India has started losing out traditional labour intensive exports and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the details of the strategy proposed to be adopted by the Government to achieve the said export target?

## ANSWER

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## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

- (a) and (b) International Trade including exports depend upon a multitude of international and domestic factors such as international demand, exchange rates, commodity prices, competitiveness  of  domestic  industry,  etc.  Therefore,  it  is  difficult  to  arrive  at  a realistic target for exports. In the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 announced in April 2015, it was indicated that the Government would aim to increase India's export of merchandise and services from US$ 465.9 billion in 2013-14 to approximately US$ 900  billion  by  2019-20  and  to  raise  India's  share  in  world  exports  (Goods  and Services) from 2% to 3.5%. However, due to shrinkage in global demand and lower commodity prices, there has been a decline in growth of export since 2015-16.   But exports  have  started  showing  positive  trend  from  the  second  half  of  2016-17.  The details of current rate of growth of  exports  for the period April-November 2017 and during the last three years are as follows:

India's  exports

|                     | Exports ( in USD Billion)   | Exports ( in USD Billion)   | Total Exports   | %Change   |
|---------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------|-----------|
|                     | Merchandise                 | Services                    |                 |           |
| 2013-14             | 314.41                      | 151.80                      | 466.21          | --        |
| 2014-15             | 310.34                      | 158.10                      | 468.44          | 0.48      |
| 2015-16             | 262.29                      | 155.14                      | 417.43          | -10.89    |
| 2016-17             | 275.85                      | 160.68                      | 436.53          | 4.58      |
| 2016-17 (Apr-Nov)   | 175.41                      | 106.07                      | 281.48          | --        |
| 2017-18 (Apr- Nov)* | 194.75                      | 109.88                      | 304.62          | 8.22      |

Source: DGCI&S

With world trade expected to grow at 4.2% and 4% in 2017 and 2018 respectively, the prospects for exports in this and coming year look bright.

- (c)  Export Growth in 2016-17 was fairly broad based except textiles and allied products and leather and products thereof.  In 2017-18 (April-December), the merchandise export growth has picked up further  to  11.31%.    Among  the  major  sectors,  engineering  goods,  petroleum  crude  and  products showed fair growth; chemical and related products, textiles and allied products showed moderate growth; but gems and jewellery registered negative growth. While there has been slight decline in growth of exports in some of the labour intensive sectors, namely, leather and textiles during the last  three  years,  the  sectors  like  agriculture  and  sports  goods  have  shown  some  positive  growth during the same period. One of the reasons for decline is that some of India's competitive countries enjoy competitive advantages in terms of lower tariff in these sectors.
- (d) In  order  to  promote  exports,  while  on  one  hand  Government  is  improving  trade  related infrastructure and ease of doing business in the country including trading across borders, it is also implementing  a  number  of  export  promotion  schemes  including  Advanced  Authorisation,  Export Promotion Capital  Goods,  Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS), Services Exports From India Scheme (SEIS), Interest Equalisation Scheme, Duty Drawback Scheme, Market Access Initiatives Scheme (MAIS), etc. to mitigate the disadvantages faced by exporters due to higher cost of capital,

insufficient infrastructure and high logistics costs.   During the time of Mid Term Review of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 in December 2017, additional annual incentives of Rs 2,743 Cr for Readymade garments and made-up sector, Rs 4,567 Cr for other labour intensive and MSME sectors have been provided under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).

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