India’s goods exports are likely to touch $470-480 billion this year from $422 billion last year and the trade deficit is expected to moderate in coming months, the country’s top trade official said on Tuesday.
While the country’s official export target for 2022-23 is likely to be announced formally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the target was almost finalised but policymakers were waiting for the geopolitical situation to stabilise, which does not seem to be happening yet.
“Right now, it doesn’t seem to be stabilising soon,” Mr. Goyal said. “So we may have to freeze the target and let you know very soon… But I can tell you, we are on track as of August 15, to the target we had set at the beginning of the year. But since the geopolitical situation, recessionary conditions in developed countries are surfacing every day, we want to be sure that we don’t overstate our expectations.”
Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam asserted that India’s trade deficit deficit won’t cross the ‘discomfort level’ and that he expected exports to touch $750 billion this year, with goods exports of $470-480 billion.
Expressing confidence about exports this year, he said: “If you look at services, they are growing jolly good at $25 billion a month.”
“There is going to be a moderation in the trade deficit from current levels. One month was pretty bad, but... there has been a moderation in oil and commodity prices and we are giving a renewed thrust to exports.”
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