By IANS,
New Delhi : India is unlikely to achieve its $360 billion exports target in the current financial year due to rising input costs and weak demands for Indian goods in North American and European markets, an industry survey has revealed.
Current export conditions have worsened and the prospects for second half of 2012 look bleak, according to a survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Over a majority (63 percent) of respondents in the survey believed that export condition would deteriorate in the second half of the 2012-13.
India’s exports slumped by 9.7 percent year-on-year in August 2012, a deceleration for the fourth consecutive month.
The FICCI survey revealed that considering the first five months’ figures, the government’s export target of $360 billion for the fiscal 2012-13 seems difficult to achieve.
Rising costs of raw materials and weak demand from overseas were cited as primary factors bothering members of the Indian export community.
Around 89 percent of the respondents drew attention to the rising costs of raw materials. According to the responses, raw material prices have gone up by 20-30 percent in the last three years.
Majority of the respondents did not expect any significant improvement in the overall export conditions over the next two quarters.
India’s exports increased by 20.94 percent to $303.71 billion in financial year ended March 31, 2012, surpassing the government’s target of $300 billion.
For the current financial year, the government had set a target of 20 percent growth in exports.