New Delhi, 25 Jan (KNN) Exports of engineering goods jumped to USD 81.8 billion during the April-December period of 2021 as compared to USD 52.9 billion during the same period in 2020, registering a growth of 54%, the commerce ministry said on Monday quoting provisional figures.

The engineering goods sector constituted the largest, more than 27%, share of India’s total exports basket during the period.

As compared to April-December 2019 (USD 59.8 Billion), exports of engineering goods registered a growth of 37%.

In the month of December 2021, exports of engineering goods touched USD 9.79 billion, registering a growth of 38.41% over USD 7.07 billion logged-in December 2020, the ministry said in a statement.

Overall exports of engineering goods in FY21 were USD 76.62 billion, and with the sector already logging USD 81.8 billion in the first three-quarters of FY22, the sector is set to scale further record highs despite the impact of the Covid19 pandemic since January 2020, the ministry said.

India’s top five export destinations for the engineering goods sector in April-November 2021 are USA (14.7%), China (5.8%), UAE (5.1%), Italy (4%) & Germany (3.4%).

The impressive growth in engineering goods exports in recent years has largely been due to the zero-duty export promotion capital goods (EPCG) scheme of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and forms part of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP). 

The present policy which came into force on 1 April 2015, was for 5 years with validity up to 31st March 2020. In order to provide policy stability during the pandemic period, foreign trade policy 2015-20 was extended for the year 2021-22 up to 31st March 2022, the statement said.