Overview
According to Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Indian goods and services exports have crossed the USD 750 billion mark for the first time. In the year 2021-22, India’s goods and services exports reached an all-time high of USD 422 billion and USD 254 billion, respectively, taking the total shipments to USD 676 billion.
Experts express concerns around slowing exports
While there is obviously much faster growth in services, growth in both merchandise and services exports is good, according to Goyal. However, exports fell 8.82% in February 2023 compared to the same month last year, and imports also declined for a third consecutive month, down by 8.21% compared to a year ago. This decline is the biggest in more than two years and has caused experts to express concerns around slowing exports due to recessionary worries and weak global demand.
Madhavi Arora, an economist with Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd, said that “slowing core exports and imports indicate softening global and domestic demand.” However, Arora lowered her current account deficit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March to 2.5% of the gross domestic product, from 2.6% earlier on robust services exports in the last few months.
Encouraging growth despite turbulent global scenario
Although India’s exports slightly dipped in February, it is encouraging to note that merchandise exports saw a rise in the April-February period, despite an adverse business environment, according to Sanjay Budhia, Chairman CII National Committee on EXIM and MD-PATTON Group. He also said that CII and the Indian industry have the utmost faith in the reforms introduced by the government to improve the trading environment and induce a rise in overall Indian exports.