By IANS,
New Delhi : The decline in India’s exports due to the global financial crisis has been arrested and a turnaround is now visible, the Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday.
“The downward trend has been arrested and now a turnaround is visible,” Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said during question hour. “From a decline of 33 percent, it is now 29 percent.”
“It is our hope that the new measures announced in the budget (by way of duty relief and duty drawback) will have a positive impact on exports,” the minister added.
He also noted that an increase in India’s exports “will depend on a turnaround in the developed markets”.
Admitting that the global slowdown had impacted on India’s labour intensive sector, Sharma said: “Between December and March, we estimate half a million jobs were lost. But in the last three months, 2.5 million jobs have been created.”
“Twenty-two million people across the world have lost their jobs. India is very low down in the order,” the minister added.