Amid global uncertainties, Goyal declines to put exports target for current year

The Union Government has taken a pause to set any exports target for FY24 considering the volatility and weakness in the global economy, which has been ravaged by the impact of the Russian war and high inflation, impacting discretionary spending.

The Union Government has taken a pause to set any exports target for FY24 considering the volatility and weakness in the global economy, which has been ravaged by the impact of the Russian war and high inflation, impacting discretionary spending.

Amid the uncertainties, the government has decided to evaluate the situation on the ground and take a pragmatic view.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal on Sunday declined to put any exports target for the current year.

“It will not be proper to give FY 24 exports target now and we do not want to give any absurd number. Due to the ongoing war, the economies of several countries have become weak and discretionary spending has come down.”

“So in the next five months we will be taking delegations of different export sectors to several countries to understand the situation on the ground and then to set our exports target. We will be organising buyer-seller meets and organise exhibitions to push our exports,” the Minister said.

In FY23, despite the adverse conditions, India had clocked record merchandise and service exports of $770 billion. In the previous two years, exports were to the tune of $676 billion and $500 billion respectively, the Minister said.

He said in preparation for the “Amritkaal” in 2047, the government had set an export target of $2 trillion by the year 2030 and he encouraged the exporters’ community to help achieve this target.