<div>A day after the government released 2015-16 exports data showing a slump across the sectors, India’s premier exporters body, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), on Tuesday flagged concerns about massive job losses in labour intensive sectors such as leather, textiles and gems & jewellery, if the decline persisted. It also demanded interest subsidy for merchant exporters on the lines of medium and small scale industries.<br /><br />“Job losses have roughly reached 5% of total workforce in the labour intensive sector. Not very alarming now, but if export slump persists for this year too, the situation will be serious,” FIEO President S C Ralhan said.<br /><br />India’s exports shrank 16% in 2015-16 to stand at $261 billion. This is the lowest in the last five years. The decline in exports has reduced chances of a faster rebound in industrial growth in coming months and could also cast its shadow on overall economic growth.<br /><br />FIEO asked for declaring exports as the priority sector and restoring of interest subvention scheme to merchant exporters to arrest the fall in exports. FIEO Chief also urged the government for investment linked benefit for MSME Exporters, line of credit or buyers’ credit to boost exports. It also asked for an export development fund and changes in MAI scheme besides making Iran a focus market.<br /><br />Global financial services major DBS too flagged concerns about declining exports and said India’s exports were “unlikely to improve in a hurry” due to its close co-relation with global imports. <br /></div>
<div>A day after the government released 2015-16 exports data showing a slump across the sectors, India’s premier exporters body, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), on Tuesday flagged concerns about massive job losses in labour intensive sectors such as leather, textiles and gems & jewellery, if the decline persisted. It also demanded interest subsidy for merchant exporters on the lines of medium and small scale industries.<br /><br />“Job losses have roughly reached 5% of total workforce in the labour intensive sector. Not very alarming now, but if export slump persists for this year too, the situation will be serious,” FIEO President S C Ralhan said.<br /><br />India’s exports shrank 16% in 2015-16 to stand at $261 billion. This is the lowest in the last five years. The decline in exports has reduced chances of a faster rebound in industrial growth in coming months and could also cast its shadow on overall economic growth.<br /><br />FIEO asked for declaring exports as the priority sector and restoring of interest subvention scheme to merchant exporters to arrest the fall in exports. FIEO Chief also urged the government for investment linked benefit for MSME Exporters, line of credit or buyers’ credit to boost exports. It also asked for an export development fund and changes in MAI scheme besides making Iran a focus market.<br /><br />Global financial services major DBS too flagged concerns about declining exports and said India’s exports were “unlikely to improve in a hurry” due to its close co-relation with global imports. <br /></div>
