For the first time in history, India has achieved the unprecedented target of US $400 billion worth of goods export in a fiscal year. The merchandise export target increased by 37 percent during April 2021- March 2022, nine days ahead of the deadline of March 31, 2022 which is the end of the financial year.
Prime Minister, in his statement on the blogging website Twitter, said that “India set an ambitious target of US $400 billion of goods exports and achieved this target for the first time ever. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers, exporters for this success. This is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey. #LocalGoesGlobal.” PM Modi also posted graphics related to the country achieving the milestone of US $400 billion goods export target.
An average of US $1 billion of goods are exported every day from India and about US $33 billion are shipped every month. For the financial year 2021-2022, India had set a target of US $650 billion worth of exports of which US $250 billion was services exports. In the first three quarters of the financial year, the merchandise exports were at US $300 billion. It is interesting to note that despite the Omicron wave, the figure for December exports alone was US $37 billion.
The major export sectors which contributed to the impressive growth include petroleum products, electronic goods, plastic, coffee, leather, engineering goods, meat and dairy products, ready made garments of all textiles, tobacco and marine products.
Export Goods |
Growth (in %) |
Petroleum products |
88.14% |
Electronic goods |
34.54% |
Engineering goods |
32.04% |
Cotton yarns |
33.01% |
Chemicals |
25.38% |
As per the graphics posted by Modi on Twitter, the approach of the Union government in close collaboration with states and districts; active engagement with exporters and quicker resolution of their issues; and working closely with different export promotion councils, industry associations and other stakeholders have made it possible for India to reach this ambitious target.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the nation on achieving this milestone and called it a great step towards India being self-reliant – ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. Exports form an integral part of PM Modi’s vision for a self-reliant or Atmanirbhar India, a program which was launched during the first wave of the pandemic.
In spite of the robust growth in exports, concerns remain about the widening trade deficit as the Russia and Ukraine conflict has led to increase in prices of crude oil and other commodity prices.
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