India to spend additional $110 mn on export push

India to spend additional $110 mn on export push

NEW DELHI: India will give financial incentives to exports of around 2,000 products including those in engineering, electronics and chemicals, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said on Tuesday.

A senior trade official said the boost, to support a nascent recovery in India's exports sector, would cost upto an additional Rs 5 billion ($110 million) in the current fiscal year ending March.

"We considered it necessary to provide further support especially to those products for which exports are still not doing well," Sharma said.

India's exports rose an annual 18.2 per cent in November to $13.2 billion, the first rise after 13 straight months of decline. Though Sharma said he was optimistic about export growth in the coming months, some sectors continue to struggle.

Director General of Foreign Trade RS Gujral said the financial implication of the move "will be anywhere between 450 to 500 crores (Rs 4.5-5 billion)", and will come out of the trade ministry's current budget.

India will focus on the Chinese and the Japanese markets for exports, Sharma added. Last week, Sharma said his ministry would recommend additional fiscal stimulus for some exporters in the federal budget in February.

A trade ministry statement released on Tuesday said the finance ministry has yet to decide whether to offer more support to export sectors such as textiles, handicrafts, and gems and jewellery.