Ministers show different pictures on slowdown

NEW DELHI: As the former finance minister P Chidambaram was informing the Rajya Sabha that India was ���no where near a recession��� , even though India was affected by the slowdown in global growth, his colleague the minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh informed the Lok Sabha that between August and October as many as 65,500 jobs had been lost in the export-related companies on account of the global economic slowdown.

���The prevailing global financial crisis and economic slowdown have started showing impact on the country's trade and industry," Mr Ramesh said.

The job loss figure of 65,500 is not the outcome of an exhaustive survey, but the findings of a sample survey conducted for the period August-October 2008 by the department of commerce for 121 export-related companies.

The survey covered primarily employment-oriented sectors like textiles, including garments, leather, engineering, gems and jewellery, handicrafts, food and food processing, minerals and marine products.

The junior minister informed the house of the slew of measures initiated by the government to instil confidence in the economy, spur growth and overcome crisis. this includes the interest subvention of 2% to labour intensive export-oriented sectors like textiles , handicrafts, leather, gems and jewellery, marine products and SMEs and an additional fund of Rs 350 crore for export incentive schemes.