The long-term hurdles to India's export growth

No country has succeeded in becoming a merchandise export powerhouse unless its quality standards are uniformly high

Can exports power India’s economic growth? This is a question that is being raised after last financial year’s scorching export growth even as domestic private consumption remained muted. In FY21-22, Indian merchandise exports jumped 43.18 per cent year-on-year, going up from $291.81 billion to $417.81 billion.

The government certainly hopes so. Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal recently stated that he expected merchandise exports to cross $1 trillion by 2030 — a stiff target. The government has commissioned a consultancy firm to prepare a report on how to restructure export promotion councils to achieve the stiff targets it is setting.

Despite last year’s