India's exports may touch USD 330-340 bn this fiscal: FIEO

New Delhi: The country’s exports are expected to touch USD 330-340 billion during the ongoing fiscal on account of the uncertain global situation and rising protectionism, exporters body FIEO said on Monday.

During April-November, 2019-20, exports dipped by about 2 percent to USD 212 billion. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf said the global situation is becoming extremely challenging as rising protectionism is leading to uncertainty in global trade which will have an adverse impact on it.

He said despite having a moderate share in global trade, India’s exports have always followed the trend in global imports.

“Therefore, when global imports are declining, our exports are also likely to take a hit. Currently, exports during April-November 2019 are down by about 1.99 percent. Therefore, we feel our goods exports may touch USD 330-340 billion in the current fiscal,” Saraf said in a statement.

The FIEO president added that the infrastructure improvement and initiatives on the logistics front will further improve the competitiveness of exports.

“If the global situation improves, which is likely in the first half of 2020, we may look for 15 percent growth in exports during the next financial year,” Saraf said.

However, he said exports have to be aligned with changing import patterns of the global economy.

About 50 percent of the global imports are accounted for by electrical and electronics products, automobiles, machinery, petroleum products, and plastic products.

“Unfortunately, the share of such products in our exports is less than 33 percent despite having petroleum products accounting for roughly half of it. Our global share in such products is much less than 1 percent,” he said.