COVID-19 CASES
WorldIndiaConfirmed286,579Deaths8,102Confirmed7,360,239Deaths416,201New Delhi: The country’s exports are “drastically” improving with the outbound shipments contracting 36 per cent in May as compared to 60 per cent in April, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.
“I am happy to share with you that in May, things have drastically improved and from the position of 60 per cent down in April, the May data shows that our overall exports have been down 36 per cent,” he said in a webinar.
The minister added that the country’s non-oil exports, excluding POL (petroleum oil and lubricant) exports, were down only 30 per cent. He said these figures provide confidence that the country is poised for a turnaround.
Goyal said the contraction rate is coming down despite the fact that the country was under lockdown during large part of May.
Further talking about June exports, he said the situation gets even more exciting as “our export in the first week of June, is at par with what it was in June 1-7, 2019”.
Exports during June 1-7 this year dipped by only about 0.76 per cent to USD USD 4.94 billion from USD 5.03 billion in the same period last year, the minister said.
He added that some stress could be there on certain discretionary spending sectors, and segments like textiles may take a little longer to recover.
“I hope that by the time we close March 2021, we would have recovered the lost ground of April and May. It will be a loss of close to USD 30 billion in two months….I have the confidence that our exporters and logistics companies together will make that happen,” he said.
Contracting for the second straight month, India’s exports shrunk by a record 60.28 per cent in April to USD 10.36 billion, mainly on account of the coronavirus lockdown.
Imports also plunged by 58.65 per cent to USD 17.12 billion in April, leaving a trade deficit of USD 6.76 billion as against USD 15.33 billion in April 2019.
The webinar was organised by digital freight forwarding startup Freightwalla.
Talking about migrant workers, Goyal said now the industry needs to take proper care of them when they return for work.
“…you cannot leave them in the lurch, you cannot let them fend for themselves. I think there will be lot of good coming up out of this lockdown that we faced. The good will be in terms of better future and security for the migrant labour,” he said.
He added that now there will be more concern about their better housing, nutrition and welfare measures.
“I do hope all stakeholders going forward will really look at these migrants as important stakeholders of our businesses… Now you can recognise their value much better,’ the minister said.
Citing an example, he said a big industrialist has assured that he is going to quickly construct AC quarters and mess for workers and the costing for these facilities is coming out to only Rs 500 per worker per month.
“Top 10,000 companies should certainly consider all of these measures in the post-COVID world,” Goyal said.
On FDI, he said Reliance Industries is every week making new announcements about getting foreign direct investment in the midst of COVID-19.
“If nearly USD 10 billion are coming into Reliance, and you know last year we got highest-ever FDI. My own sense is that this year FDI will not… be any less than last year, because the whole world sees India as the oasis,” Goyal said.
Source: indiatimes.com
