New Delhi, Nov 25 (FN Bureau) The Engineering Export Promotion Council has sought Government intervention in creating policies that encourage more value addition which will enhance India’s presence in global high value exports, it was announced on Thursday. India’s major export content is still in the range of low to medium value and needs to be incentivised for more efficiency and greater value addition in order to grab opportunities in the changed economic scenario in the post pandemic world. Constant upgradation of the value chain and exploration of new economies has have pushed India’s engineering exports in October 2021 to record 52.69 per cent growth over October 2020 with shipments of US$ 9.4 billion as against US$ 5.9 billion in October 2020. Exports in September 2021 however were revised slightly downward. Engineering exports in October 2021 was also higher by 46.6% per cent as compared to October 2019 when the economy was free of any pandemic effect.
“Collective efforts by the exporting community have ensured high growth in the sector despite several challenges during pandemic times. Share of engineering goods to the total exports has also been rising over the years,” says EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai. In the last decade itself, according to Desai, engineering export’s share in India’s total merchandise exports has increased significantly from around 17 per cent to 26 per cent. The sector also achieved US$ 60.98 billion cumulative exports of engineering goods in April-October period of FY22, achieving 57 per centof the full year target. All the 33 engineering goods categories including aircraft parts and ship boats and floating products recorded positive year-on-year growth in exports during October 2021 as outward shipments continued its double-digit growth run. The EEPC analysis further shows exports rose to 23 out of 25 top export destinations during this period with exports to three top destinations — US, China and UAE witnessing sharp increase in October on strong economic recovery and pent-up demand. Exports of engineering goods to the US jumped 68.4 per cent year-on-year to US$ 1.45 billion in October while shipments to China surged 165 per cent to US$ 635.6 million.
Exports to the UAE went up 70 per cent to US$ 467.5 million in October 2021 as compared to US$ 275 million in the same month last year. Engineering goods exports to Mexico and Malaysia fell in October by 12 per cent and 58 per cent respectively. Share of engineering in total merchandise export was 26.37 per cent in October 2021 as against 26.65 per cent in September 2021 and 27.68 per cent in August 2021. On a cumulative basis, the share was 27.36 per cent during the April-October period of FY 2021-22. While exports in iron and steel segment grew 159 per cent year-on-year to US$ 1.93 billion in Octobe, air conditioner and refrigerators recorded a 38 per cent year-on-year jump in this period. The automobile panel comprising vehicles and auto components registered a 22.8 per cent increase in October to US$ 1.44 billion. Mexico, South Africa and Nepal were top three importers of India’s automobiles during April-October 2021 with 11.67per cent, 11.51 per cent and 5.93 per cent share in India’s global exports respectively over the same period last fiscal. Ship boats and floating products and parts exports were US$ 133.5 million in October 2021 as compared to US$ 46.1 million in the same month last year. Aircraft and spacecraft parts and products segment exports grew 23 per cent year-on-year to US$ 125 million in October. The US, France and UK were the top three importers of India’s aircrafts and spacecrafts during April-October 2021 with around 33.33 per cent, 18.28 per cent and 9.35 per cent shares respectively in India’s total global exports of the product.