The US, UAE, Germany, UK, Singapore, Italy and China, among others, are the largest contributors to the country’s basket of merchandise exports.
With major economies of the world slipping into a ‘near-halt’ due to pandemic Coronavirus, Indian exporters find themselves in a state of turmoil as trade in the country’s top destinations is paralysed, making it imperative for an urgent relief measures for the exporting industries, the EEPC India said on Monday.
The US, UAE, Germany, UK, Singapore, Italy and China, among others, are the largest contributors to the country’s basket of merchandise exports. ” Trade is crippled in most of these destinations due to a near collapse of global supply chain even as the cargo movement has stopped. The warehousing capacity is over-stretched with severe blocking of export finance. The international shipping lines are affected. Even the urgent and less bulky cargo through air routes is paralysed with the airlines trimming their operations, ” said EEPC chairman Mr Ravi Sehgal.
He said, under these circumstances, the exporters, especially those in the highly job-oriented SMEs need immediate fiscal relief and credit flow to keep their work force and essential plant and machinery , in running operations. ” In any case, the export credit had contracted by about 23 per cent in 2019 (Jan-Dec) even before outbreak of the global crisis due to Coronavirus”.
Engineering exports for the April -January 2019-20 to the US aggregated to $9.87 billion, followed by UAE ($3.58 billion), Germany ($2.56 billion) and UK ($2.26 billion). Other major destinations are China ($1.85 billion ) , Italy ($1.65 billion), Republic of Korea ($1.62 billion) and France ($1.13 billion).
” All these markets are in a grip of crisis due to Coronavirus. More worrisome is the uncertainty as there is no clue so far how long the global health emergency would last”, said the EEPC India chairman, impressing upon the government for urgent relief to exporters.
Source: indiatimes.com
