Stats IQ: India’s Exports

India’s Exports

• India’s Current Export and Import:
  • India’s goods exports declined for March 2023, falling a sharp 13.9% to $38.38 billion while imports dipped 7.9% to $58.11 billion.
  • Services exports have grown 13.84%. 
  • The goods trade deficit rose almost 40%  in 2022-23, compared to 2021-22.
  • India’s increase in outbound shipments was led by petroleum and electronics goods. Petroleum exports now account for 21.1% of total exports, up from 16% in 2021-22.
    • India’s top three export items Rice, chemicals, and drugs and pharmaceuticals did not witness significant growth.
    • Engineering goods, a major export item, shrank 5.1% bringing down their share in total exports to 23.9%.
    • Non-oil exports contracted 0.5%.
    • Coal imports grew at a faster 57% to touch almost $50 billion.
    • Gold imports fell around 24% to $35 billion as global prices for the metal surged and the Rupee turned weaker.
• Rise in Trade Deficit: Total trade deficit for 2023 is estimated 46% higher than 2021-22.
• Export and Import Items: In January 2023, the top exports of India were Petroleum Products, Pearl, Precious, Semi Precious Stones, Drug Formulations, Biologicals, Telecom Instruments, and Electric Machinery And Equipment.
  • In January 2023, the top imports of India were Petroleum: Crude, Petroleum Products, Coal, Coke And Briquittes, Electronics Components, and Vegetable Oils..
• Export Destinations: In January 2023, India exported mostly to the United States, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, China, and Saudi Arabia.
  • Bangladesh and Hong Kong remained in India’s top 10 export markets.
• Import Destinations: India imported mostly from China, Russia, United States, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
  •  India’s imports from Russia grew almost 370% to over $46 billion in 2022-23.
  • Imports from China  grew 4.2% to reach $98.5 billion in 2022, while exports to China fell 28% to just $15.3 billion.
  • Indian shipments to China now account for just 3.4% of total exports, from over 5% in 2021-22.
• India’s Export Growth: Exports have seen tremendous growth over the last two years.
  • India had reached $418 billion of manufacturing exports in the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) with rapid growth over the last 2 years.
  • India’s overall exports of goods and services during April-March 2023 are estimated to reach $755 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 11.6%. 
  • Over the last 9 years, merchandise exports from India were $260-330 billion, with the highest ever being $330 billion in 2018-19.
  • The government has set up a target of $1 trillion in 2027-28 for merchandise exports and $500 billion in exports for 2023-25. 
  • Key sectors which are expected to register healthy growth include basic and processed agriculture products; fish, meat, dairy; petroleum items, chemicals, diamonds, machinery and automobiles.
•  Export Promotion Activities:
  • Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC): SEPC is an Export Promotion Council set up by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India for facilitating services export from India.
    • It organizes a large number of promotional activities both in India and abroad, such as Buyer-Seller Meets (BSM), trade fairs/exhibitions, and India pavilion/information booths in selected exhibitions to demonstrate the capabilities of Indian Services Industry.
  • Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC): Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC) caters to the development and promotion of exports of oilseeds, oils and oilcakes.

Initiatives Under New Foreign Trade Policy

• • • The FTP aims to facilitate Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) initiative to promote exports and accelerate the development of grassroots trade ecosystem.
    • Merchanting trade of restricted and prohibited items under export policy is now possible.  Merchanting trade involves shipment of goods from one foreign country to another foreign country without touching Indian ports, involving an Indian intermediary.
    • Faridabad, Mirzapur, Moradabad, and Varanasi have been added as new Towns of Export Excellence (TEE) in addition to the existing 39 towns. The TEEs will have priority access to export promotion funds under the Market Access Initiative scheme and can avail benefits for export fulfillment under the EPCG Scheme.
    • The Exporter firms recognized with ‘status’ based on export performance will now be partners in capacity-building initiatives.
    • Dairy sector to be exempted from maintaining Average Export Obligation.

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