Many South Asian countries, which used to account for a small share in Indian engineering exports, are now emerging as promising markets.
The Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC), the apex body of Indian engineering exporters, felt that this was in sync with the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has begun to yield dividends.
Early trends show that “South Asia is emerging as the number one destination of Indian high-tech products clocking in close to $one billion dollar in April, 2015,” according to an EEPC India paper.
An EEPC official said that while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal were major importers, there was insignificant trade with Bhutan and Afghanistan and almost nil trade with Pakistan.
As against a miniscule uptick of 0.23 per cent in overall engineering exports in April this year, the shipments to South Asia leapfrogged by over 90 per cent to $892 million for the month over $465 million a year ago.
“South Asian countries have become a major market for us, giving us more than 15 per cent of the total shipments,” Anupam Shah, EEPC Chairman, said.
As per the analysis, the South Asian exports of engineering products have overtaken North America this year by a few notches. Shipments to North America in April this year 838.8 million, but it is the South Asian market which is expanding.
Total engineering exports in April were $5.7 billion, showing a small growth, with slowdown in several key markets of Europe such as Germany, Italy, Italy, the U.K. and France.
“When Europe and several other parts of the world are posing challenges, finding a handsome growth in the neighbourhood was a pleasant surprise,” Mr. Shah said.
