New Delhi, Aug 6 (Mayank Nigam) In a renewed thrust on exports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked Indian Missions abroad, state governments, industry, exporters and all other stakeholders to make a concerted attempt to seize the opportunity. The PM assured exporters and investors of all the required support to take Brand India to each and every corner of the world. He said that a detailed planning needs to be worked to identify new products and new markets to achieve the ambitious export target. The government has set US$400 billion merchandise export target for the current financial year. PM Modi suggested various ideas including engagement with Indian diaspora overseas to establish Indian products in different countries.
He noted the four key factors that could help boost exports. The PM said the first step should be to raise manufacturing multiple times. Then, problems and challenges related to transport and logistics should be addressed. The other two factors being government support and international market for Indian products. Modi said that the production linked incentive announced by the government would not only scale up production capacity but also efficiency and the level of global quality standards. He said that the Rs 88,000 crore insurance cover announced for exports would boost the sector while rationalising export incentive and making them WTO-compliant would give further support. The PM said that exports currently account for 20% of the GDP but given the size of the country and the base of manufacturing and services there is huge potential. He noted the latest government decision to scrap the retrospective tax law saying the exporters who go out to the world very well know the importance of policy stability. “
The decision to get rid of the retrospective tax law shows our commitment and consistency in our policy,” he said while interacting with heads of Indian Missions abroad and other stakeholders. The Prime Minister declared that it was time to start a new journey for Brand India and with new goals. Stressing on the quality and reliability of Indian products, he said that there is a need to create demand for value-added products from India in different countries. Exports have a huge employment generation potential, especially for MSMEs and high labour-intensive sectors, with a cascading effect on the manufacturing sector and the overall economy. The PM’s virtual interaction with Heads of Indian Missions abroad was focused on how to leverage and expand India’s export and its share in global trade. It was aimed at energising all stakeholders towards expanding India’s export potential and utilizing the local capabilities to fulfill the global demand.
The PM said that at present almost half of the country’s exports are to only 4 major destinations. Similarly, about 60 percent of the exports are related to Engineering Goods, Gems and Jewellery, Petroleum and Chemical Products and Pharmaceuticals. He urged exporters and other stakeholders to find new destinations and also take new products to the world. He added that with the opening of sectors like Mining, Coal, Defense, Railways, entrepreneurs are also getting new opportunities to increase exports. The PM elaborated how Production Linked Incentives helped to strengthen the mobile phone manufacturing sector. “The mobile phone sector, we are also experiencing its impact. Seven years ago, we used to import mobile phones worth about $ 8 billion. Now, it has come down to $2 billion. Seven years ago, India used to export mobile phones worth only $ 0.3 billion. Now it has increased to more than 3 billion dollars,” he said. He listed the initiatives of the Government to boost MSMEs like many relaxations given in compliances under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and provision of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme of Rs 3 lakh crore. The Prime Minister said that the government, both at centre and states are also focussing to reduce the time and cost of logistics in the country. For this, work is going on at a rapid pace in every level to create a multimodal connectivity, he noted. Commenting on the Prime Minister’s strategy to boost exports, EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said that the engineering goods sector has the potential to become the lead contributor to the economic growth and job creation as India leaps ahead in the post-pandemic world.
“Most developed countries are working on “China Plus One” strategy and India very well fits into the scheme. The engineering goods sector could considerably gain from it with right policy support,” he said. The government has set US$107 billion export target for the engineering goods sector which accounts for a little over one-fourth of the total target set for merchandise exports in FY22. In his first of the kind interaction with exporting community representatives and Indian Mission heads, the Prime Minister said that for maximum benefit to the economy from exports, there was a need to build a seamless and high quality supply chain within the country as well. “For this we need to build a new relationship and a new partnership,” said Modi. He requested all exporters to strengthen partnership with MSMEs, farmers and fishermen, promote Startups and support them.