There is a potential to increase exports of food, beverages and marine products to USD 100 billion in the next 4-5 years as huge demand is there for these goods in the global markets, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. Interacting with the food and beverage industry players, the minister also suggested the companies focus on quality, nutrition and sustainability. "I hope to see a 3-digit mark, a USD 100 billion mark, in our food, beverages, marine products and agri exports in the next 4-5 years," Goyal said. He further said this is not an ambitious target and the industry should work together to take the exports to this level. To enhance the quality of production, the government is looking at expanding testing laboratories in the country. The interaction was held on the sidelines of the Indusfood 2025 exhibition in Greater Noida.
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The ECGC is aiming to reduce the export credit gap through the WT-ECIB scheme, which is expected to benefit about 1,000 new small exporters, in addition to the existing 8,000-odd by facilitating the availability of adequate and affordable export finance from banks for working capital, an official statement said. The commerce ministry in its 2024 year-end review said that the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) has extended the scope of its Whole Turnover Export Credit Insurance for Banks (WT-ECIB) scheme to export credit working capital limits up to Rs 80 crore with effect from July 1. "ECGC aims to improve the export credit offtake for MSME exporters and reduce the export credit gap through this scheme, which is expected to benefit around 1,000 new small exporters, in addition to around 8,000 existing exporters," it added. It also said that the India-Sri Lanka Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) negotiations are ongoing with the 14th round of ...
Angry over the drop in onion prices, farmers on Thursday briefly stopped auctions at the Lasalgaon APMC, the country's largest wholesale market of the key kitchen staple in Maharashtra's Nashik district. The farmers demanded removal of the 20 per cent export duty on onions and an aid of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 per quintal of the produce, the APMC officials said. Onion prices have been witnessing a decline since the last few days. However, as the prices dropped drastically at the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), onion farmers stopped the auctions and registered their protest on Thursday, the officials said. Around 1,500 vehicles of onions arrived for auction at the APMC on Thursday. In the morning session, the minimum price was Rs 800 per quintal, maximum Rs 2,900 per quintal and an average Rs 1,900 per quintal, as per the officials. As the auctions began, the auctioneers announced the prices at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 per quintal. Angry over it, farmers stopped t
As many as five more firms have submitted their applications to the government to set up e-commerce export hubs in the country and a decision on this is expected soon, a senior official said. Logistics aggregator Shiprocket and air cargo handling company Cargo Service Centre (CSC) have already been selected by the government on a pilot basis to set up these hubs in the country. "We have received five more applications, including from DHL and Lexship. Out of the five, we have shortlisted three. We are going to decide on these applications soon," the official said. Two of the hubs will come in and around Delhi airport and begin operations in February next year. It will have facilities for expedited customs and security clearance in-house. Provision for quality and certifying agencies will also happen within the hub. It will also have an easy re-import policy, he added. This policy will enable the return of e-commerce consignments and rejects without payment of import duty. The offi
Mobile phone players want Indian airports to ramp up their existing cargo handling capacity to support a projected eight-fold increase in device exports to USD 180 billion by 2030, industry body ICEA said. India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo told PTI that the turnaround time at customs is a major hurdle for the electronics industry which delays shipments' processing further. "In China, while the factory to export take-off from the cargo terminal is achieved on Day 1, in India, the export take off happens only by Day 2. This is a glaring chasm especially when seen in the context of the volume of exports which in the case of China is more than 30 times electronics output (USD 959 billion) compared to India (USD 29 billion) in 2023," Mohindroo said. Electronics is already India's largest export in air cargo while it's ranked third overall behind engineering and petrol. "To keep pace with the expected growth in exports, concerted efforts are need
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said collective effort is required to achieve the "big" exports target of USD 2 trillion by 2030. Addressing the annual convocation of IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade) through video conference, he expressed confidence in achieving the target. "Let us partner to achieve the export target of USD 2 trillion by 2030, given that we will cross USD 800 billion this (fiscal) year. We will have to really put in a lot of effort collectively to achieve USD 2 trillion. It will not happen by chance, it will happen by choice and I am confident that we can achieve this big target," Goyal said. In 2023-24, India's exports of goods and services stood at USD 778 billion. He urged the students and faculty of the institute to contribute to studying the non-tariff barriers being faced by Indian products in other countries so that the officers can flag those. The ministry also announced that soon the IIFT will have its new campus in ...
The government's measures such as cutting certain port charges and purchasing additional container vessels by Shipping Corp will help boost export competitiveness, Chairman of the CII national committee on EXIM Sanjay Budhia said on Friday. He said that these initiatives will significantly benefit the Indian industry by easing export operations. "This move will reduce logistical bottlenecks, enhance cost efficiency for exporters, and improve the competitiveness of Indian goods in global markets," Budhia, who is also Managing Director of Patton Group, said. Industries will experience smoother trade flows, shorter delivery times, and lower costs, fostering growth in exports and making Indian products more attractive to international buyers, he added. The measures will also significantly improve export competitiveness by decreasing the overall costs involved in shipping goods and will help make Indian exports more competitively priced in international markets, Budhia said. "It would
Inbound shipments into the country rose 3.3 per cent to $64.4 billion during the month, leading to a trade deficit of $29.65 billion
India's share of global apparel exports has decreased from 4 per cent in 2018 to 3 per cent in 2022, mainly due to rising production costs and declining productivity, according to the World Bank
ECGC has an impressive track record of adopting innovative insurance policies to aid and assist Indian exporters in enhancing their export performance
The government on Tuesday announced setting up of hubs to promote exports through e-commerce medium in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that these hubs, under a seamless regulatory and logistic framework, will facilitate trade and export-related services under one roof. "To enable MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and traditional artisans to sell their products in international markets, e-commerce export hubs will be set up in PPP mode," she said. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has recently said that a regulatory framework to push the country's exports through e-commerce medium is expected to be ready by September. At present, India's exports through this medium are only about USD 5 billion compared to China's USD 300 billion, annually. There is a potential to take it to USD 50-100 billion in the coming years. Through these hubs, small producers will be facilitated to sell to aggregators and then that aggregator will find
The government has recovered about Rs 852 crore under the amnesty scheme for exporters for one-time settlement of default in export obligation by the holders of advance and EPCG authorisations, an official said. The figures are likely to increase further as the exercise is on for the compilation of the data, the official added. The government has fixed March 31 as the last date for payment of customs duty plus interest. "Under the scheme, 6,705 applications were filed and as per the provisional figures, an amount of about Rs 852 crore has been recovered. This figure is further expected to increase," the official said. Meanwhile, several small exporters have requested the government to continue the scheme for a one-time settlement of default in export obligation till September. Ludhiana-based Hand Tools Association President SC Ralhan has said several small exporters have not been able to avail of the benefits of the scheme due to fulfilling their obligations to make payments to MS
The commerce ministry has initiated an exercise to identify required infrastructure needs, potential sectors, and clusters which would help the country achieve the USD 1 trillion merchandise exports target by 2030, a senior government official said on Thursday. Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Anant Swarup said that the Asian Development Bank has been requested to conduct a study in this regard. If the country is targeting USD 1 trillion of exports by 2030, there is a likelihood of about USD 1.5 trillion of imports, so "do we have enough capacity" to cater to USD 2.5 trillion of EXIM (export and import) trade, he said. So that is the target on which the department is working, he said. "The ADB is doing a study for us because what is more important is from where the USD 1 trillion of exports is going to come from; which are those sectors and clusters from where this USD 1 trillion of exports is going to come from. That is very critical for us. "Because unless we k
Russia currently does not feature in the top five countries that import medical devices from India
As many as 90 principal commodities like iron ore, telecom instruments and electronic components exported to China have recorded a positive growth in 2023 out of the total 161 such goods shipped to the neighbouring country, according to commerce ministry data. These 90 commodities account for 67.7 per cent of India's export basket to China, while 71 products that have registered a negative export growth in 2023 constitute 32.3 per cent, the data showed. There are four commodities level where India has improved its export to China by more than USD 100 million in 2023. They are iron ore (216.8 per cent to USD 3.33 billion in 2023), cotton yarn (542.6 per cent to USD 611.17 million in 2023), spices (19.4 per cent to USD 132.26 million in 2023), and processed minerals (174.19 per cent to USD 129 million in 2023). For another fifteen products, the improvement in exports is in the bracket of USD 10 -100 billion. These goods include marine products, iron and steel, telecom instruments, ..
This was driven by demand for products such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, petroleum products, engineering products, machinery, as well as chemicals, government data showed
India's plastic exports grew 14.3 per cent year-on-year to USD 997 million in February due to a rise in demand in various product categories, an apex industry body said on Friday. The overall plastic exports stood at USD 872 million in February 2023, Plastic Export Promotion Council Plexconcil said in a statement. According to Plexconcil data, there was significant export growth in February 2024 across the majority of the product panels like plastic raw materials, plastic films and sheets, woven sacks, and floor coverings, among others. However, panels like writing instruments and stationery, consumer and houseware products, human hair and related products, and miscellaneous products and items faced challenges in achieving growth during the same period, it added. "Amidst fluctuating trends, India's plastic exports grew in February, reaching USD 997 million, a 14.3 per cent rise from the previous year. Initiatives like PLEXCONNECT 2024 aim to fortify global connections. Scheduled fo
Steps such as significant ramp up in production capacities, and skilling of workforce will help achieve USD 40 billion garment exports target by 2030, AEPC said on Tuesday. Apparel Export Promotion Council of India (AEPC) Chairman Sudhir Sekhri said skilled workers like tailors and quality checkers are still not sufficient as during the peak season they go to their native villages thereby creating shortage. "Our target to reach USD 40 billion of RMG (readymade garments) export by 2030 can be a reality and my duty is to take every possible step to reach this target," Sekhri said. He said "we need to ramp up our capacities as the export houses in India are still unable to handle core/basic products which are required in huge quantities". He added that the council is also focused on skilling the workforce. "We are creating about 150,000 skilled workers every year but it is still not enough. To attain the growth that we are targeting, we need to empower our workforce with skills," he
Re-routing via the Cape of Good Hope has meant ships sailing from India will often need an extra 15-20 days before reaching destinations in Europe, greatly increasing costs