Government on course to meet 2020 export target: Top official

The government is confident of pulling off the US $900 billion export target for 2020 despite missing it last fiscal, a senior official said on Thursday.

"We have missed export target, but did better last year. We are confident of achieving the US $900 billion export target by 2020 as envisaged in the foreign trade policy," joint secretary (commerce) Sudhanshu Pandey told reporters on the sidelines of a CII event.

Exports slumped into the negative zone, recording a decline of 21% in March, the biggest fall in the past six years, pulling down the total shipment for 2014-15 to US $310.5 billion and missing the target by 1.23%.

The government had set an exports target of US $340 billion for 2014-15. The exports have been in slow lane across the globe, including China, Pandey pointed out. The current initiatives taken by the government will yield results in a year, he added.

The government is also working to create a national ecosystem for product standards, he said and asked the industry to provide critical and clear inputs on standards so that the Centre and states can help build exports.
"The country needs to restore the national ecosystem and then only, the compliance cost of regulation will go down," he asserted.

Amit Singla, deputy secretary in the commerce ministry, too echoed his view. He said even though developing countries get preferential tariff treatment in developed countries, the advantage is lost due to stringent import requirements and sometimes exports are rejected.

The government has identified 25 sectors under the Make in India initiative where standards are harmonised with international ones.