The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is set to keep a close watch on India’s export performance in 2022-23, in line with the role played last fiscal when exports touched an all time high of $420 billion, and has asked the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for a detailed presentation on the potential of various markets and products and the outlook for the new financial year.
“Details will also be shared on the opportunities expected from the new free trade agreements (FTAs) India is getting into, including the ones just concluded with the UAE and Australia,” an official tracking the matter told BusinessLine.
New target
A new export target of about $470 billion is likely to be fixed for 2022-23, as indicated by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday in his address at a webinar organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, but finalisation and announcement on the official target will be done by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry after the ongoing consultation process is over, the official added.
Goyal held a meeting with his ministry officials on Tuesday to finalise a presentation that will be made to the PMO based on the consultations held so far with all missions abroad and export promotion councils and groups on the matter.
“Based on last year’s performance and the outlook for the current year, country-specific and product specific targets have been discussed with all Indian missions and export bodies. The commerce department is putting it all together for the PMO combining it with its own analysis keeping in mind the outlook for the year,” the official said.
Scope for growth
Increase in exports due to the recent FTAs signed by India with the UAE and Australia and others in the pipeline such as the UK, the EU and Canada, will also be taken into account.
India needs to give a continued push to its export efforts as its share in total world trade is still below 2 per cent and there is a lot of scope for growth.
In August last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual interaction with all Indian missions in various countries and the representatives of export bodies to strategise and motivate them to achieve the export target. The previous year (2020-21), exports had taken a hit and declined to $291 billion compared to $313 billion in 2019-20.
However, in 2021-22, exports not only met the target, but also surpassed it to touch $420 billion. The previous high was reached in 2018-19 with exports valued at $331 billion. India is targetting $1 trillion goods exports by 2030, Goyal recently said at an event promoting India-UAE trade.