New Delhi, April 4 The country’s merchandise exports may have achieved the scale-down target of $170 billion during the just-ended fiscal year 2008-09, a top commerce ministry official indicated here on Saturday.
“I expect that in March 2009 exports would be about $12-14 billion,” Mr G.K. Pillai, Commerce Secretary, told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting organised by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC).
This estimate was, however, lower than the $16.3 billion exports recorded in March 2008. It would be the sixth straight month of downslide in fiscal 2008-09.
With the merchandise exports during April-February 2009 touching $156.6 billion, the Commerce Secretary’s expectation of $12-14 billion exports for March 2009 implies that the total exports would range between $168 billion and $170 billion during 2008-09.
The official data for March 2009 export performance is due on May 1.
India had earlier pegged the merchandise exports target at $200 billion for 2008-09, but later scaled it down to $170 billion in the wake of the global economic crisis.
The economic recession in the developed markets had led to slump in the demand for merchandise.
The first six months of 2008-09 had seen robust growth of over 30 per cent in exports, which has to a large extent ensured an increase, albeit a modest one of 3-4 per cent, for the entire fiscal year 2008-09.
Source : Business Line