Year’s target fixed, but waiting for stability in geo-politics before announcement: Minister
Year’s target fixed, but waiting for stability in geo-politics before announcement: Minister
India’s merchandise exports are expected to reach $470-480 billion this year from $422 billion last year and the trade deficit is expected to narrow in the coming months, the country’s top trade official said on Tuesday.
While the country’s official export target for 2022-23 may be formally announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said the target was almost finalized, but the policy makers are facing geopolitical situation. Waiting for it to stabilize, which doesn’t seem to be the case. Still happening.
“Right now, it doesn’t seem to be stabilizing anytime soon,” Mr Goyal said. “So we may have to put the target on hold and tell you very soon… But I can tell you, we are on the target by August 15, which we set at the beginning of the year. But since the geopolitical situation “As the slowdown in developed countries is unfolding every day, we want to make sure that we don’t exaggerate our expectations.”
Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam stressed that India’s trade deficit deficit will not cross the “discomfort level” and expects exports to reach $750 billion this year, with goods exports worth around $470-480 billion.
Expressing confidence about India’s exports this year, he said: “In the 75th year, our trade in goods and services will surely cross $750 billion… of which around $470-480 billion is goods and the rest. The services will be there. But if you look at the services, they’re growing pretty well at $25 billion a month. So I think services will give us $300 billion anyway.”
“We are not giving any numbers yet… The prime minister will hold an event in which we will announce the target number. But we are largely on track,” the secretary said.
Emphasizing that India cannot run a trade surplus with every country, Mr. Subrahmanyam said: “I think the trade deficit will come down from the current levels. One month was very bad, but if you look, oil And commodity prices have softened and we are re-emphasizing on exports. So I think overall we are not going to cross the level of discomfort.”
The commerce ministry is closely watching the trade deficit numbers and is taking steps to increase domestic production in areas with high imports. “If you go to our website, you can actually see opportunities for domestic manufacturing from imports. So I guess it’s not going to be so worrying. We will boost exports and a lot of imports are inelastic – fuel, edible oil…
“A lot of our exports have a strong import component. So, actually increasing exports are also pulling in some imports, so that in itself is not a bad thing,” Mr. Subramaniam underlined, adding that India is doing very well despite global adversities and concerns about slowdown in some countries. is in ‘lucky’ position.