Exporters ready to roll

The stiff export growth targets set up by the government in the Foreign Trade Policy has not deterred exporters.

The Federation of Indian Exporters Association (FIEO) welcomed the new policy, terming it “refreshing and challenging to exporters�, but pointed out that strong exports over the next five years are necessary to meet the stiff targets.

“The Foreign Trade Policy aims to double India’s share of world merchandise trade in the next five years, which means raising India’s exports from $61.9bn in ’03-04 to $195bn by ’09. This works out to a compound annual growth rate of 33% assuming that the world trade grows at 10%,� FIEO president M Rafeeque Ahmed said.

Such a high growth on a sustained basis for the next five years will be challenging for domestic exporters, he added. Mr Ahmed said the policy was a bold sector-specific initiative that will impart a strong impetus to growth of exports.