Exports clock 16% growth in December

The growth is said to fuelled by strong growth in pharma, engineering and auto components sectors.At US$14.6 billion, the December growth is about 16 per cent from a year ago, while the expansion is about 10 per cent compared to shipments in November this fiscal.

Exports in November 2009 had increased to US$13.19 billion from US$11.16 billion a year ago marking a trend reversal of decline that had set in since October 2008 due to widespread recession in key global markets.

The two straight months of growth comes after falling for 13 months in a row since October, 2008. The minister said, going ahead the momentum would be maintained. He, however, added that exporters are yet to recover from the setback of the past 13 months. Sectors like engineering, auto components and pharma helped exports rise again. Analysts said December growth has come about on a low base last year when the global demand dropped sharply due to recession in several markets.

The December figure reflects the best ever performance since August, 2008 when exporters shipped goods worth US$16 billion. “Demand for the Indian products seems to be reviving in the western markets,” Rakesh Mohan Joshi of Delhi-based Indian Institute of Foreign Trade said. However, the government cannot be complacent upon the positive numbers as this could be on account of base-effect, Sharma said, adding “We have to see the overall scenario.”

Further, on rising food prices, Sharma said that zooming food price-inflation remains as a major concern to the government and in some cases there have been speculative build ups.