In the midst of a pandemic, petrol and LPG prices are rising, there is a war going on in one part of the world, jobs are scarce and happiness elusive. There is also the fact that, for the first time ever, India has achieved the $400 billion exports target, that too nine days ahead of the closing of the current financial year 2021-2022. Do you know what the previous best was? The number was $331.02 billion in 2018-2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared this news on March 23 via Twitter and credited farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers and exporters for the success. Let's look at how India achieved this feat in today's edition of What The FAQ.
How has India performed in terms of exports this year?
As opposed to the financial year of 2019-2020, the financial year April to February 2021-2022 has seen a cumulative growth of 45.8 per cent. As per the tweet put out by the PM, every hour, $46 million worth of export was done, every day, $1 billion worth of export was done and 33$ billion worth of export happened per month.
What did the current financial year look like, especially in the shadow of the pandemic?
Lockdowns and restrictions marked the previous year, but exports started rising slowly. As far as this year goes, the exports have grown every month till February.
So, what is India exporting?
India's single largest export product, processed petroleum, has a 15 per cent share in our country's overall exports. Rising crude oil prices, coupled with the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine, have led to prices per barrel almost doubling. Gems and jewellery are the second-largest export category and represent 10 per cent of our exports. These rose to a whopping $32 billion, as reported by moneycontrol.com. Steel, chemicals, plastics and other industrial inputs were also in high demand along with agricultural exports (which grew to 24 per cent). These have had a good year too, including with finished goods.
What else did the PM say about this?
In the graphics that the PM shared in his tweet, he attributed the success to closer interactions at the state and district level, closer engagement with exporters including faster resolution of issues and actively engaging with export promotion councils, industry associations and other stakeholders. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called it a Made in India blockbuster and equated it to the success of the movie, The Kashmir Files.
With the way things are currently going, where will India finish in terms of exports?
In the month of March alone, India added about $25.19 billion worth of exports and by the end of this month, the total number might touch $410.
