The Hindu Business Line : Exports log 17.26 pc growth in 2003-04

THE country's export growth notched up a 42 per cent growth in dollar terms during March 2004, even as the overall export growth for the fiscal 2003-04 exceeded all expectations by logging a growth of 17.26 per cent, far above the 12 per cent export target fixed for the second year of the Tenth Five Year Plan.

Provisional trade figures based on data collated by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics

(DGCI&S), Kolkata and released by the Commerce Ministry here show that the country's exports during March 2004 are valued at $7308.55 million which is 41.88 per cent higher than the level of $5151.37 million during March 2003.

Cumulatively, exports during the fiscal year 2003-04 are estimated at $61,845.10 million, which is 17.26 per cent higher than the level of $52741.99 million during April to March 2002-03. This 17 per cent plus growth rate was over and above the 20.34 per cent export growth in April-March 2002-03 over the corresponding months of the previous fiscal.

The country's imports during the fiscal 2003-04 are valued at $75,209.06 million, an increase of 24.96 per cent over the level of $60,188.53 million in April-March 2002-03. After consistently higher import growth throughout most of the fiscal 2003-04, import growth in March 2004 are valued at $6927.58 million representing an increase of 17.61 per cent over $5890.47 million in March 2003.

A break-up of import data shows that oil imports during 2003-04 are valued at $20,170.25 million which is 14.29 per cent higher than oil imports valued at $17648.12 million in the corresponding period lat year. Non-oil imports during April-March 2003-04 are valued at $42,540.41 million, which is 29.38 per cent higher than the level of $42,540.41 million in April-March 2002-03.

Trade deficit for the fiscal 2003-04 is estimated at $13,363.96 million, which is higher than the deficit at $7446.54 million during April-March 2002-03.

In rupee terms, exports grew by 11.16 per cent during 2003-04 at Rs 2,83,604.52 crore as against Rs 2,55,137.29 crore in the comparable months of 2002-03. Imports grew by 19.01 per cent at Rs 3,46,474.45 crore against Rs 2,91,132.93 crore.

An official release observed that the high growth in exports is due to the good performance of exports and the efforts to streamline data collection and the slight change in the method of reporting data by Customs, which is now based on LEO (Let Export Order) basis instead of EGM (Export General Manifest). This would also be so in the future to foreclose any pendency in data.

Officials in the Commerce Ministry told Business Line here that traditional export items such as gems and jewellery, engineering products, chemicals and chemical products and petroleum products acquitted themselves exceptionally well on the back of an incipient recovery in the markets of developed countries. They said that despite the appreciation of the rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar, in which most of the export receipts are denominated, the exchange rate gyration did not exact any pressure on the exporters though it did impact on the profitability of exporters by reducing margins.

The Medium-Term Export Strategy (MTES) unveiled in 2002 January by the then Commerce Minister, Mr Murasoli Maran, aimed at achieving 12 per cent export growth during the Tenth Plan (2002-07) period to take the country's share in global exports from the extant 0.7 per cent to one per cent by 2007. However, as the first two years export performance has consistently been far above this 12 per cent growth, hope runs high that the oft-repeated assurance by the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, that this target of one per cent share in global exports would be achieved well ahead of the schedule might not be misplaced if the current momentum is sustained and strengthened in the lingering period of the Tenth Plan, trade policy analysts say.