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India’s engineering goods sector has been able to beat the global crises – Red Sea, Ukraine and Isreal-Hamas – with the support of Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia and, surprisingly, China.
Total engineering exports in the April–August period of the current financial year were $ 46.41 billion, up 4.22 per cent from $44.53 billion in the corresponding period of 2023-24, according to data provided by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC).
Russia has bought 40 per cent more thanks also to the rupee-ruble trade arrangement and partly because other sources are drying up for Russia due to geopolitical reasons.
But the surprise is China, which is in the grip of an economic slowdown. India’s engineering exports to China increased 11.3 per cent, crossing the $1-billion mark – despite a marked decline in the exports of iron and steel products, to $123.77 million from $268.62 million previously.
EEPC’s Chairman, Arun Kumar Garodia, told businessline that China is buying more of aluminium products, electrical machinery and auto components from India.
UAE, with which India signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in April 2022, also bought 44 per cent more engineering goods in April–August 2024. Saudi Arabia, even as negotiations for a free trade agreement with India are going on, is buying more from India. UAE and Saudi Arabia have turned out to be the second and third largest recipients of India’s engineering goods, after the US, Garodia said. Interestingly, both countries are buying a lot of motor vehicles from India. UAE is also buying aircraft, spacecraft parts, ships and boats too.
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EEPC’s projections for 2024-25
On the back of this encouraging performance, EEPC has projected India’s engineering exports for the full year 2024-25 to be between $115–122 billion, compared with $109.32 billion in 2023-24.
India’s basket of export goods is also expanding, Garodia said. In addition to traditional sectors such as machinery, automobiles and metal products, new products such as electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy equipment, high-tech components and advanced engineering goods are gaining prominence,” he said. “This shift towards more advanced and environmentally sustainable products is providing India with emerging avenues in potential sectors like clean energy and precision engineering.”
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