The situation on the external front has worsened rather than improving, raising a serious question about the sheer survival of export sector with a large number of jobs at stake, said Chairman of the EEPC India Mr. T. S. Bhasin.
In his reaction to the release of trade data for November, Mr. Bhasin said such a sharp fall in exports has come about and competitiveness of Indian exporters took a hit even as rupee has seen significant erosion in value in the face of uncertainties in the international financial markets.
November Trade Data reflected continuous decline for the last 12 months in a row, much worse than decline in exports during global slowdown of 2008-09. The monthly trade data showed exports at 20.01 billion dollars a decline of 24.43 percent. This is the worst decline in the past couple of years.
Going by this trend the exports in whole of 2015-16 is expected to be somewhere in 260-270 billion dollars range. Recent past particularly last few days have also seen further decline in global crude oil prices which is also expected to have further negative impact on India’s exports.
The Chairman of the EEPC India, the apex body of the engineering exporters, said the worst hit are the exporters in the small scale who find their costs going up due to the government restricting steel imports and making their raw material expensive. The possible imposition of floor prices on steel imports would seriously affect SME exporters, he added.
Image Courtesy : EEPC INDIA
