New Delhi, Mar 31 (KNN) India's exports have been falling for the last 15 months. Different reasons, opinions and views have been given about the decline by experts from across sectors. KNN spoke to industry experts and economists on ways to curb the decline.

The apex body for exporters FIEO President SC Ralhan said it is primarily due to global slowdown. “But there is a slowdown in China too and India should take advantage of that,” he said.

At a time when the entire big economies are going through slowdown, China is no different. Many manufacturing units in China are shutting down. At the same time Make in India is getting popular. So the Chinese companies should be invited to set up their manufacturing base in India so that it benefits us in several ways, he said.

Apart from job creation, the treat to the local companies would also reduce and they would also get to learn from the Chinese companies, he opined.

Also, the FIEO chief feels there is a need to sign Free Trade Agreement with America to boost trade.

Economist Bharat Bhushan opines that mere implementation of the stalled ideas can also push exports to a large extend.

Bhushan said the main reasons for declining exports are internal factor like red tapism, non-functioning of the Parliament, stalled Bills etc due to which the results are not coming.

“If the bills like Land Bill, GST and more are passed, there will be a positive impact of India across the world. Industrialization will definitely increase and the results would be eminent in one year itself,” Bhushan said.

He said that ‘Make in India’ is praised across the world, it only the non-implementation of good ideas which is acting as a barrier.

“Indian products are very good and competitive. Red tapism and inspector raj kinds of things are responsible for high cost of production for MSME. If that improves, exports would improve too,” he added.

Meanwhile, KNN also spoke to various exporters on the impact of non-signing of FTAs. Most of them have a similar view that lack of trade pacts is holding Indian exporters back in comparison to its competitors.

MD of Neetee Clothing, Animesh Saxena, who said that although the teaxtile and garment exporters did not suffer as much as the other sectors in the past few months, still there is a “policy paralysis” from the government side.

“Our internal costs are very high. Also, the trade agreements are against us. Bangladesh and other countries have free access to European market but our materials are 10-12% costlier than theirs,” Saxena said.

He said that Vietnam is India’s competitor now. “India should finalize its stuck treaties. The government should also bring down the internal transaction costs and port charges to make Indian exporters competitive,” he said. (KNN Bureau)