Republic Economic Summit: The Growth of India's Export Industry & what it entails

In the lead up to the first-ever Republic 'India Economic Summit' scheduled for November 26 in the National Capital, Republic World establishes an overview of the world's sixth-largest economy and key contributory factors to its growth, crisis and sustenance. 

As nations emerge out of an unprecedented global health crisis, a pivotal factor that has been propelling India on the path to recovery is the exponential growth of exports. Over the last seven months, India's cumulative exports have hit an all-time high of $235 billion, likely to breach the dream target of $400 billion in this fiscal year. The rise in Indian exports is also a signifier of a broad global recovery given that three countries-- the US, UAE and China constitute 30% of the nation's exports. Here is an analysis of India's promising export numbers.

India's export back to pre-pandemic levels

Data for the first half of 2021-22 indicates that Indian exports have crossed pre-pandemic levels that is, 2019-20 numbers. In the first half of 2021-22, exports increased to USD 198.2 billion compared to USD 125.6 billion registered in the same period in 2020-21. As compared to the numbers currently (USD 198.2 billion), pre-pandemic numbers in that time frame stood at USD 159.1 billion (2019-20). 

Just in the first half of 2021-22, exports grew by 57% compared to 2020-21 while in comparison to 2019-20, they grew by around 24.5%. In the period between April-October 2021, India's cumulative exports stood at USD 233.54 billion, marking an increase of 55.13% compared to the same period last year.

India to cross USD 400 billion target soon 

Over the last decade, India's exports have been oscillating between USD 250-300 billion. However, the figures for October 2021, have shown an exponential 43% rise year-on-year after October's growth rate almost doubled that of September led by demand for petroleum products, engineering goods and Indian coffee. November's numbers so far have kept the momentum going. This month (the three week period between November 1 and 21), India's exports rose by 18.8% to USD 20.01 billion. The rebound in exports is likely to help India stay on the path to becoming the world’s fastest-growing major economy this year and hitting the USD 400 billion target. 

Focus on sunrise sectors

The growth in exports is being led by a healthy demand in sectors such as petroleum products, engineering goods, chemicals and gems and jewellery, as per the Ministry of Commerce. Numbers show that India's exports are being given a major boost through “sunrise” sectors of India like electronics. The most encouraging feature was the exports of engineering goods which grew at 63.1%. Pharma has been another major contributor. According to India Ratings, a mix of policy support and a carefully-crafted strategy that continuously explores emerging opportunities of exports of manufactured products in developed and emerging markets could be a way to sustain robust growth.

Image: Pixabay, Representative