Exports reviving, may be in positive territory in FY22: Commerce Secretary
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Last Updated: Apr 20, 2021, 03:55 PM IST
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Since December 2020, the country s merchandise exports are recording positive growth. In March this year, the exports rose by 60.29 per cent to USD 34.45 billion. However in 2020-21, the shipments dipped by 7.26 per cent to USD 290.63 billion.
He added that exporters have shown resilience and have covered a lot of the lost ground, after hit by Covid-19 pandemic.
The country s exports are reviving and the shipments are expected to be in the solid positive territory in this financial year, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said on Tuesday. He said that exports recorded a significant contraction in April last year but gradually things started improving and the shipments have entered the positive territory.
India s Exports To Be In Positive Territory In 2021-22, Says Commerce Secretary India s Exports To Be In Positive Territory In 2021-22, Says Commerce Secretary He said that exports recorded a significant contraction in April last year but gradually things started improving and have entered positive territory.
India s exports to rise during the current financial year
Despite a major spike in Corona virus cases, India s exports are showing a rising trend and are expected to be in the solid positive territory during the current fiscal, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said on Tuesday.
He said that exports recorded a significant contraction in April last year but gradually things started improving and the shipments have entered the positive territory. He added that exporters too have shown a lot of resilience and have covered a lot of the lost ground despite being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I personally don’t understand its rationale or economic logic,” he said.
“It is the mandate of the central bank to provide stability in the currency, as a result of which central banks buy and sell foreign currency. Our overall reserves have been fairly steady at $500-600 billion. We are not accumulating reserves. We have a steady pattern of reserves that fluctuates, based on market based transactions. The central bank’s activity in the foreign exchange market has been perfectly balanced and completely legitimate and within the accepted monetary policy mandate of the central banks across the world,” Wadhawan told reporters at a virtual briefing.
‘Putting India under scanner invasion into central banks’ policy space’
Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan on Tuesday questioned the rationale behind the U.S. government’s decision to put India in the watchlist for currency manipulators, and said the list constituted an intrusion into the policy space needed by central banks around the world to meet their mandates.
The U.S. Treasury Department had recently retained India in a watchlist for currency manipulators submitted to the U.S. Congress, citing higher dollar purchases (close to 5% of the gross domestic product) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Another trigger for the inclusion in the currency watchlist is a trade surplus of $20 billion or more. India’s trade surplus with the U.S. grew by about $5 billion to $23 billion in 2020-21 from around $18 billion in the previous fiscal year as imports fell more sharply than exports in the COVID-affected year.