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India should be able to maintain FY22’s exports of $422 billion this fiscal, too, if not better it, despite the ongoing global economic turmoil, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said.
“Individual months have seen some ups and downs in exports. But overall, despite the world being under recession, huge inflationary pressures, overstocking of various commodities and every global leader talking of very tough times, India’s exports, up to December 2022, is up 9 per cent from last year. Clearly, we cannot sustain that kind of momentum given the difficult times,” Goyal told businessline in an interview on the sidelines of the ‘B20 India Inception Meeting’ organised by the CII in Gandhinagar.
But the government, together with exporters, are giving it their best, he said. “We still feel confident that we’ll be able to maintain, if not do better than last year,” the Minister said.
‘Satisfying year’
India’s goods exports in December 2022 declined 12.2 per cent (year-on-year) to $34.48 billion as recessionary trend in major developed markets shrunk demand. If the US and Europe pick up a little bit, then India’s goods exports may actually grow this fiscal, Goyal said.
India has done extremely well in services exports which is likely to grow at least 20 per cent, he said. “By current trends, we will exceed the target of $300 billion in services exports this year. So all in all, it will be a satisfying year given the global headwinds,” he added.
On the need to curb imports to check the widening trade deficit, at $218.94 billion in April-December 2022, Goyal said India didn’t make any knee-jerk decisions. “Many are essential imports of raw materials and intermediate goods. Petroleum going up is a sign of economic activity and growth. The fact that electric vehicles are being used in a bigger way is leading to lithium being imported,” he said.
The WTO has predicted a slowdown in global export growth to 1 per cent in 2023 from an estimated 3.5 per cent in 2022. Goods exports from India started slowing down in July 2022, declining in October by 16.6 per cent to $29.78 billion, before rising marginally in November and falling in December again.
Amiti Sen was in Gandhinagar on the invitation of CII
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