Bikky Khosla | 22 Sep, 2009
Considering the current fiscal situation of the government, I think no more sops will be made available to the industry in general and the export sector in particular.

The Union Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has made this clear recently. So that leaves us with defending for ourselves. Industry stalwarts have already predicted that exports will gain pace from next month considering the fact that the markets of US and Europe have started to lighten up considerably.

However the big question is: should we wait for these markets or should we start looking for alternate markets to push our sales? I think it is dangerous to rely on just a handful of nations for our exports - we have learned this the hard way this time around.

Although exporters are now looking at the Asian and African markets where there is still demand for our goods, there are several exporters who are still to wake up to this fact. I have observed that despite slowdown in the traditional US and European markets, exporters are still hooked to these markets and are thus left empty-handed in most cases.

Moreover most exporters made no adjustments whatsoever in their product lines which led to their failure. The situation calls for new strategies in our operations, diversifying our trade basket and exploring newer markets. Those who have made these corrections have been rewarded with good results.

The good news however came from the Finance Minister who recently assured that the stimulus packages introduced in the last fiscal to protect the Indian economy from the impact of the global financial crisis, would continue till the economies of Europe and US gather momentum.

Today's economic situation calls for making one's own path to success. The situation also calls for intelligent planning and research before taking any decision. With a couple of adjustments I think it should not be difficult for us.