Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday asked exporters to focus on new markets and also help revive the agriculture sector wherever they can. Exporters can target new markets and new products, including sunrise products which show higher growth in global trade, such as electrical, electronic and tele-communication equipment, he said. He was speaking at an event to mark the distribution of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Southern Region Export Excellence Awards.
With the focus currently on creating state-of-the-art seaports, airports and super highways to connect manufacturing centres and ports with best supporting ecosystem, exports should pick up faster, he said.
Mr. Naidu claimed that the government’s demonetisation and GST moves would have a positive impact in the years to come.
Speaking at the event, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit said the southern region contributes nearly a quarter of the total exports and it is estimated that this will touch 30% in five years. “I am happy to see that among these southern States, Tamil Nadu is the largest contributor with almost half the total exports of the region,” he added. In a video message, Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu highlighted the government’s ambitious target for exports.
There were a total of 31 awardees for 2015-2016 and 30 awardees for 2016-2017 across various categories which included the southern region and State-level exporters award.
