SME Times News Bureau | 05 Nov, 2009
India's exports, which fell for 12 consecutive months since October 2008, may see a turnaround in the January-March quarter, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Wednesday.

"We are on the way to recovery. In the final quarter of this fiscal, we will see positive growth," Sharma told reporters at the annual Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi.

"We will be able to achieve the target of doubling India's exports of goods and services by 2014 and also doubling our share in global exports by 2020," he added.

The country's merchandise exports fell for the 12th straight month this September, dipping 13.8 percent to $13.6 billion, as compared to the corresponding month last fiscal. The decline was highest in May, with exports falling 39.2 percent.

The cumulative value of merchandise exports for the first six months this fiscal stood at $77.8 billion, down 28.5 percent from the corresponding half yearly figure of $108.9 billion last year.

The minister also said his department will undertake a survey to gauge the effectiveness of various fiscal stimulus measures provided to exporters and provide additional assistance wherever needed.

Indian exporters have been grappling with a demand slump in key markets of the US, Europe and Japan, which account for about 60 percent of total exports.

However, the country has seen a steady flow of foreign direct investment (FDI).

"It is a measure of confidence that the foreign investors have demonstrated in the Indian economy that the foreign direct investment has shown a positive trend this year and so have been the flows from foreign institutional investors," said Sharma.

"In the first six months of the current financial year, we received FDI inflows of $15.3 billion and the cumulative FDI inflows has crossed the $120 billion mark," he added.