India to witness 20% growth in service exports this fiscal: Union Minister Piyush Goyal

Gandhinagar, Jan 24 (KNN) The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said that despite global economic uncertainties, India’s service exports are doing “extremely well” and are set to register around 20 per cent growth this fiscal.

Going by the current trend, the service exports will cross the mark of USD 300 billion target, he said.

The Commerce Minister was speaking at the B20 India Inception Meeting, organised by industry chamber CII.
On the merchandise front, the country is showing a positive growth despite huge inflationary pressure, and overstocking of various commodities, he added.

As per the official data of the commerce ministry, the estimated value of services export in April-December 2022 stood at USD 235.81 billion as compared to USD 184.65 billion in the year-ago period. The year 2021-22 witnessed the exports touching an all-time high of USD 254 billion.

India’s exports contracted 12.2 per cent to USD 34.48 billion in December 2022, mainly due to global headwinds, and the trade deficit widened to USD 23.76 billion during the same period.

Goyal pointed out that individual months have seen some ups and downs, but overall the exports sector is doing well so far despite global economic uncertainties.

Replying to a query whether the government would hike customs duty on certain products to cut imports of non-essential goods, the minister said India does not make any knee-jerk decisions and it believes in stable and predictable policies in the long run.

Our effort is more to develop the manufacturing base of India, which is why the PLI (production linked incentive) scheme is so successful and popular, he said.  (KNN Bureau)