Imports during this period touched $589 billion, driven by a spike in oil prices and massive purchases of coal and gold, leading to a trade deficit of about $189 billion.
India’s merchandise exports exceeded an ambitious target of $400 billion for FY22 nine days before the fiscal is set to end, staging a smart rebound after a 7% slide last fiscal in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak and surpassing the previous high by a wide margin.
Official sources said exports will exceed the $30-billion mark for the 12th straight month in March, riding a dramatic improvement in global demand for goods this fiscal following an industrial resurgence in advanced economies.
Briefing reporters, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said: “It’s not just about achieving the record $400-billion target. The achievement further bolsters the confidence in our abilities that we can scale even greater heights.” The fact that the lofty target was achieved despite the Covid onslaught, supply-chain woes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a testimony to “the resilience of our exporters”, the minister added.
On an average, goods worth over $33 billion were shipped out every month and more than $1 billion every day in FY22.
Director-general of foreign trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said if this trend continues, “we would be adding another $10-12 billion in the remaining nine days”, taking the exports by the end of FY22 to more than $410 billion.
The top five export destinations are the US, the UAE, China, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands. Interestingly, the UAE regained its position as the second-largest export destination for India after losing out to China in FY21.
The official data showed exports jumped 37%, albeit on a contracted base, to $400.8 billion as of March 21, driven by a stellar performance by sectors like engineering, electronics, gems and jewellery, chemicals and petroleum products.
Imports during this period touched $589 billion, driven by a spike in oil prices and massive purchases of coal and gold, leading to a trade deficit of about $189 billion.
Of course, the Ukraine crisis has now posed fresh risks for exporters, as global supply chains remain tangled and shipping costs have skyrocketed across countries. However, it has also created some opportunities for Indian suppliers of wheat (Russia and Ukraine are large exporters of the grain) and some other farm commodities in the export market.
India’s merchandise exports had remained below par in the past decade, having fluctuated between $250 billion and $330 billion a year since FY11; the highest export of $330 billion was achieved in FY19. Last fiscal, the exports shrank to $292 billion due to the devastation caused by the Covid outbreak.
Importantly, the latest rise will raise India’s share in the global merchandise exports from just 1.6% in 2020 and 1.7% in the pre-pandemic year of 2018. However, a sustained surge in exports for a few years will be crucial to India recapturing its lost market share, analysts have said.
Merchandise exports until February were up 46% from a year before to $374.8 billion, supported by a contracted base.
Similarly, services exports, too, are likely to exceed the target of $250 billion this fiscal. Earlier this month, Goyal had said his ministry had to revise the targets for FY22 twice from the initial goal of $225 billion in the wake of buoyant growth. Services exports were to the tune of $206 billion in FY21.
A Sakthivel, president of the apex exporters’ body FIEO, said, what is remarkable about this year’s exports is that almost all sectors witnessed growth, mainly the employment-intensive sectors and the sunrise ones.
EEPC India chairman Mahesh Desai said: “As we enter into the new financial year in a few days from now, the engineering goods sector will aim high and achieve the goal despite several challenges, especially geopolitical tensions arising out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/riding-high-on-global-demand-exports-zoom-to-record-400-billion/2469859/
