India creates a history in the world of Exports

Brand India is shining brightly all over the world. India has created a new history by achieving the target of $ 400 billion nine days before the scheduled date of March 31. This has never happened before! After battling the Covid pandemic for two years, the hard work of the Indian exporters is now paying off rich dividends. The Indian exports which stood at $292 billion in the last financial year (2020-21) crossed the $400 billion mark on March 22, 2022 with a jump of 37 percent.  India's average exports this year stood at $33 billion per month and $1 billion per day, ie, an average of $46 million Indian goods were exported every hour. Indian exports had performed brilliantly in the month of December, 2021 itself, raising hopes that the target of $400 billion exports wasn’t far away. The country exported $100 billion in the third quarter (Oct-Dec) of the current fiscal (2021-22), which was very encouraging. The second wave of the pandemic shook the global economy, but it did not have a significant impact on the Indian exports industry. Global demand for Indian goods started showing improvement in the month of December, when exports hit a monthly high of $37.29 billion.
 
Responding to this historic feat, Vikas Singh Chouhan, Director, Home Textile Exporters Welfare Association (HEWA), says that it’s a great achievement for which the credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Self-reliant India (Aatmanirbhar Bharat), Made in India and Vocal for Local. Also, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal played a vital role in this achievement, because he followed everything aggressively and also remained in constant touch with the exporters. The success story in exports will continue. However, efforts will have to be intensified to achieve the target of $1 trillion in 2022-23. Undoubtedly, the Indian economy is improving rapidly. The increase in exports is also due to some decisions of the government like extension of Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes (RoSCTL), facility of Refund of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), export promotion schemes like Production Linked Incentives (PLI) and payment of pending dues of Rs 56,000 crore in the second wave of Covid during the lockdown etc.
 
Anant Srivastava, Founder, HEWA, states that after the pandemic, major importers such as the US and Europe became more conscious of sustainable and eco-friendly products and services rather than market prices. Almost all the major brands are following the ‘China Plus One’ policy, with India being a major beneficiary. High freight charges, raw material costs, lack of major FTAs, fully functional alternative routes like the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) are some of the challenges on the way to achieving $1 trillion exports and $5 trillion GDP in the next few years. India needs to put in place a mechanism to control the rising cost of raw materials in cotton in order to achieve the textile export target of $100 billion in the next few years. According to Dr. A. Sakthivel, President, Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), achieving the highest export level is nothing short of a miracle. It is clear from this that Indian goods and brands are pleasing to the world.

(Author is a senior journalist and columnist)