India unlikely to achieve $200-bn export target: Expert

VADODARA: India will find it difficult to achieve its ambitious export target of $200 billion in the current financial year as the global economic downturn was not yet over, an expert said on Monday.

Without taking radical steps and simplifying procedures, it will be difficult to achieve the target as the global recession was not yet over. India will have to look at European and Asian markets for increasing its export, international trade expert Sudhakar Kasture said.

India's total merchandise exports for 2009-10 was $178.66 billion.

Speaking at a workshop on Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 here, he suggested a host of measures to achieve the target.

Kasture expressed doubt over Commerce Minister Anand Sharma's claim of India's pharma sector getting access to the Chinese market.