India is one of the fastest growing exporters of engineering goods in the world, registering nearly 30 percent year-over-year growth, reports say, comfortably above the global engineering average export growth rate of 13 percent. The country has set an ambitious target of $120 billion in engineering exports by 2015.
India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has stated, “Our engineering exports have already reached $40 billion and are likely to touch $50 billion by the end of the current fiscal year ending March 31. We have remained aware of the fact that we need to align government policies with the ambitious target of tripling India’s engineering exports to $120 billion by 2015.”
The minister also said that within the manufacturing sector, special focus should be paid to building up green technologies. “We are making a major contribution in the growth of manufacturing and high-value engineering.” India is now the fifth largest wind energy producer in the world, and eighth in terms of investments made in clean energy technologies.
Accelerating growth
According to the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EPCH, www.eepcindia.org), out of India’s total engineering exports worth $32.5 billion in fiscal year 2009-10, the United States and European Union accounted for about 65 percent of the shipments. During April-December, 2010, the exports leaped by about 50 percent to $37 billion, compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. For the month of December 2010 alone, India’s engineering exports grew by about 50 percent year-on-year to $5.5 billion, on the back of increased demand from United States and Middle East markets.
“We are getting a good number of orders from the United States and Middle East markets,” EPCH Chairman Aman Chadha said. But the recovery in the European economy is still delicate, and demand there has yet to pick up, he added. Engineering exports include heavy engineering goods, transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products such as castings, forgings and fasteners.
Meanwhile, to encourage engineering exports, the government will soon roll out a national manufacturing policy that will help in attracting overseas investments, in addition to increasing the share of the sector in the Indian economy.
The government has also announced further export incentives on more than 600 products, covering sectors including engineering and electronics, in a bid to enhance the competitiveness of India's products in the international market.
About the author
Uday Lal Pai, [email protected], is a freelance journalist based in India.
Engineering Export Promotion Council
www.eepcindia.org
