News

Hindu Business Line: Move up value chain to gain, exporters told
August 24, 2013
By: Revathy Lakshminarasimhan

The Government is committed to revitalising the domestic manufacturing sector and taking it to the next level, Union Commerce Secretary S. R. Rao said here on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an interactive session on enhancing India’s exports, organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, Rao said that the National Investment and Manufacturing Zones were created to give impetus to the domestic manufacturing sector.

India’s export share in world trade was only 1.7 per cent at present. “This is simply not acceptable. While quantities are increasing year-on-year, the value of the goods exported has not been rising,” he said. “We are not here to compete with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Pakistan. We need to compete with the best of the emerging countries, tap our innate potential, both in terms of human resources and technological skills and leverage our strength towards moving up the value chain,” Rao said.

“Until and unless we move up the value chain, we will not be able to increase our share of exports in world trade,” he said.

On the impact of the rupee’s slide on India’s import bill, he said “it has already started to come down after a series of measures were put in place, particularly on import of precious metals and the so-called non-essential imports. We will see it coming down further and the exports move up in the coming months, resulting in better containment of the current account deficit.”

Read More: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/move-up-value-chain-to-gain-exporters-told/article5056101.ece