Reacting to the February 2022 Trade Data, FIEO President, Dr A Sakthivel said that the merchandise exports of USD 34.57 billion with a growth of 25.10 percent during the month has once again showcased the continuous resilience of India’s exports sector. The enthusiasm with which the Exim community has impressively performed has not only given a boost to the sector, but has also helped the economy’s growth recovery process. With monthly merchandise exports crossing the USD 30 billion mark for 11th consecutive month and touching almost USD 375 billion during the fiscal till now, goes to show we are on course to cross the USD 400 billion exports target for the fiscal.
Praising the efforts and hard work of the exporters, Dr Sakthivel thanked the Hon’ble Prime Minister, whose clarion call to exporters on 6th August, 2021 further enthused the exporting community for such an outstanding performance. Dr Sakthivel also welcomed the steps taken by the government under the able and dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and also the Union Finance Minister and the Union Commerce & Industry and Textiles Minister for showing confidence and trust on the exporters during these challenging times.
The FIEO President said that the top sectors, which performed impressively during the month were Engineering Goods, Petroleum Products, Gems & Jewellery, Organic & Inorganic Chemicals, Electronic Goods, Cotton Yarn/Fabrics/Made-ups, Handloom Products etc., RMG of All Textiles, Plastic & Linoleum and Rice. Out of these, many of them were labour-intensive sectors contributing majorly to the exports basket, which itself is a good sign, further helping job creation in the country. However, imports clocking USD 55.45 billion during the month with a growth of 36.07 percent, is a point of concern and should be analysed, said Dr A Sakthivel.
The FIEO Chief is of the view that though the government has announced a slew of measures to support exports including the recent announcement of the extension of the interest equalisation scheme and extension of time for filing of MEIS/RoSCTL/ROSL scrip, there is a need to allow transfer of MEIS through operation of transfer module, increase the validity of scrips to 24 months and link transferability with realisation, extend RoDTEP to EOUs, SEZ and Advance Authorisation and expand usages of RoDTEP and RoSCTL scrips.
