India's exports contracted by a sharp 29 per cent in June, for the ninth month in a row, but the government said the downslide has "hopefully" been arrested.
The pace of export fall has begun to recede, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in the Rajya Sabha today.
Under the impact of global downturn, the country's exports have taken a severe beating and have been declining since October, 2008-09.
"Global crisis has adversely impacted our exports which had witnessed a downward trend from October 2008 and that decline continued in the months of April-May and also in June.
"But the downward (trend) hopefully has been arrested," Sharma said answering supplementaries in the upper house during question hour.
Exports dropped by 33.2 per cent in April and 29.2 per cent in May in the current financial year to $10.74 billion and $11.10 billion, respectively.
More From This Section
Sharma said he was hoping that the measures announced in the Budget would help the crisis-ridden export sector.
"We hope the new measures the Finance Minister announced in the Budget will have a positive impact," he said.
The government extended time limit for the tax breaks and the interest subsidy for the export sector till the end of the current fiscal in the Budget.