Crisil's urges focus on labour-intensive sector's issues as exports fall

Rating agency says note ban and GST had further blunted the export edge of garments, leather and jewellery sectors

At a time when global trade is set to accelerate, the fall in India's export is disquieting and structural changes in labour-intensive sectors such as apparels and jewellery need to be undertaken fast, rating agency Crisil said on Monday.

"Global merchandise trade is expected to grow stronger at 4.2%, boosting trade intensity of growth for the first time in six years i.e. world trade growth being higher than world GDP growth. Yet, India's exports have not been able to take as much advantage of the stronger trade growth unlike many of its Asian peers like Vietnam, South Korea and Indonesia." a