To give a fillip to exports, especially in the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector, the Odisha government has drafted an export policy that is in the process of finalisation.
“To boost export, Odisha State Export Policy has been drafted and is in the process of finalisation. During 2013-14, it has been planned to promote 6,300 MSMEs with investment of Rs 630 crore, generating 37,800 employment opportunities,” Odisha Governor M C Bhandare said in his address to the assembly on the inaugural day of the Budget session.
An official source said, the policy is aimed at promoting exports in non-metallurgical sectors like handicrafts, handloom, textiles, engineering and chemicals, marine products, agro and forest products, pharmaceuticals, electronics and software products, gems and jewellery.
Exports of goods from Odisha in 2011-12 saw a drop of 5.61 per cent at Rs 16,139.20 crore in 2011-12 compared to Rs 17,098.88 crore in the previous fiscal. This is for the first time since 2001-02 that exports have dipped.
The steepest fall was noticed in case of exports of engineering, chemicals and allied products which nosedived 75.23 per cent from Rs 612.62 crore to Rs 151.69 crore.
Exports of metallurgical products too fell marginally in value terms from Rs 4,807.98 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 4,793.94 crore in 2011-12. The quantity exported, however, surged from 0.26 million tonne to 0.76 million tonne.
Mineral product exports declined 5.89 per cent in 2011-12 at Rs 9,257.42 crore as against Rs 9,836.84 crore in 2010-11. In volume terms, it rose from 8.74 million tonne to 15.04 million tonne. Exports of marine products from the state registered a slight decline from Rs 541.47 crore to Rs 521.34 crore.
Export of software products rose 12.79 per cent to Rs 1,414.78 crore in 2011-12 compared to Rs 1,254.24 crore in the previous fiscal. Odisha’s overall exports stood at Rs 2,382.83 crore on 2001-02 and have been consistently growing since then. Apart from metallurgical and mineral products that have a lion's share in the export basket, agriculture & forest products, handloom products, handicrafts products, textile products, gems & jewellery and pharmaceutical products are exported from the state.
