The fall in exports has been arrested and growth will steadily take place, said Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Exports in 2015-16 were at $262 billion, down 15.5 per cent. However, 12 sectors, including like tea, tobacco, spices and carpet recorded positive growth in value terms, she said at the Regional Editors Conference of Southern States, according to a government release.
Manufacturing sector grew at 9.3 per cent in 2015-16, much higher than the 5-6 per cent growth in previous three financial years and was the major contributor to the healthy 7.6 per cent growth of GDP in 2015-16.
With reference to southern States, Sitharaman said four new projects have been set up in Tamil Nadu under ASIDE; one project has been approved in Kerala and two each in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Sitharaman said her Ministry was looking at diversifying the export product basket, entering into non-traditional markets, concluding ongoing Free Trade Agreements negotiations and initiating new FTAs to promote exports.
The Minister said 20 services of Central government, 14 services each of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and 2 services of NCT Delhi are integrated on the eBiz portal.
On the ease of doing business Minister said, the 340-point Action Plan has been shared with all States for implementation. Workshops were conducted in States on request and online dashboard for reporting and evaluation is an ongoing process, she said.
On Startup India, Sitharaman said legal support and fast-tracking patent examination at lower costs has been provided. For relaxed norms of public procurement for start-ups and faster exit for start-ups, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act 2016 has been enacted, she said.