In the midst of global economic meltdown, India today announced that it exceeded its 2007-08 export target of $160 billion by nearly $3 billion. But economists warned that the export target of $200 billion for the current financial year would be difficult to meet because of lower demand from key export markets like the United States and the European Union which are reeling under a financial crisis.
A commerce ministry release today said: “In dollar terms, exports reached a level of $162.9 billion during 2007-08, registering 29.02 per cent growth over the same period last year.”
Significantly, this growth in merchandise exports came despite the rupee appreciating by around 8 per cent against the dollar during the financial year. The rapid rise of the rupee against the dollar in 2007-08 had eroded profit margins of exporters, leading the government to offer them a host of sops, which included interest rate subvention on export credit.
In rupee terms, exports for the period grew by 14.7 per cent to Rs 6,55,864 crore from Rs 5,71,779 crore in the previous year, the release added.
The impetus to exports came from higher overseas sales of engineering goods, which increased by 27.34 per cent compared with the previous year, as well as petroleum products, which increased by 52 per cent.
Moreover, exports of gems and jewellery increased by 23.27 per cent, agriculture & allied products by 55.51 per cent and ores and minerals by 30.34 per cent.
Though economists and trade experts are not sure if India will be able to meet its target of $200 billion, the country’s merchandise exports in the April-August period grew 35.1 per cent to $81.2 billion from $60 billion in the same period previous year. This was due to a near 17 per cent depreciation of the rupee against the dollar between April and August this year.