India’s exports still show a decline, but it is the silver lining that matters. The drop in exports in December was just 0.8 per cent, compared to being down by 8.74 per cent in November.
Exports in December were at 26.89 billion dollars, compared to 27.11 billion in December 2019.
Despite a de-growth for the third straight month, exporters now feel the worst is behind them. “Monthly exports have moved towards positive territory as major export products show signs of further revival,” said Sharad Kumar Saraf, president of the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO). “Marginal decline of just 0.8 per cent with 26.89 billion dollars of exports showing signs of revival as order booking position have continuously improved, besides more new orders in the offing. New Year 2021 has brought a ray of hope and optimism for all from the worst of COVID-19,” he added.
Sectors where exports have suffered include petroleum, leather and marine products, according to the Commerce ministry. The trade deficit also widened, with imports at 42 billion dollars compared to exports of nearly 27 billion dollars.
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So far, this financial year (April to December), India’s exports show an overall decrease of nearly 16 per cent to 200 billion dollars. During the same period last fiscal, this was 238 billion dollars.
FIEO president added that December exports also signals that our traditional and labour-intensive sectors of exports have passed the most challenging and testing times as both Christmas and New Year Season sales have shown positive trends with further improvement in coming months. Going ahead by this trend, we expect our inventories to be liquidated, adding further to the overall demand, said Saraf.
He pointed out how some export items show robust growth, like oil meals, iron-ore, cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed items, jute, carpets, ceramic products and glassware, drugs and pharmaceuticals, spices, electronic goods, fruits and vegetables, chemicals, cotton, handloom products. Rice, meat, dairy and poultry products, gems and jewellery, mica, coal, minerals, tea and engineering goods also showed either growth or were in positive territory showing signs of further revival.
Not that there aren’t any concerns. Reduction in export of items like petroleum, leather, coffee, marine products, cashew, plastic, tobacco are not only worrisome because they are traditionally major constituents of India’s export basket, but also because they hail from labour-intensive sectors where any consistent decrease would directly affect livelihood of thousands working in those sectors.
