The global headwinds which had marred the Indian exports seem to have eased off quite significantly, raising renewed hopes of continuous uplift of engineering overseas despatches in the new fiscal 2017-18, and helped by revival across most of the regions, led by the basic industries of iron and steel, an analysis by the EEPC India has said.
Analysing the latest trade data of February 2017 which saw over 48 per cent increase in engineering exports despite 1.70 per cent appreciation of rupee against dollar, the apex organisation of the engineering sector found that be it European Union, North America, ASEAN, Middle East, or North East Asia, the engineering exports went up across the board to these destinations for the month. Thanks to a huge drop of 52 per cent to Sri Lanka, the South Asia market remained a dampener, though, it noted.
For the April-February period of 2016-17, engineering exports aggregated $57.34 billion, growing by 7.34 per cent year on year. While it is too early to set the target for the new fiscal, the growth should be significant.
Owing to a stellar performance in despatches to Singapore, rising year-on-year by over 700 per cent, the exports of engineering industries to ‘ASEAN plus 2’ region gave the Indian exporters the maximum value of $1.51 billion in February 2017. EU too gave a smart rise of 45.54 per cent, rising to $1.26 billion in February over the same last fiscal. Engineering exports to North America gave an increase of over 18.58 per cent at $870 million. So is the case with Middle East and West Asia with over 56 per cent increase at $868 million. Led by China, North East Asia emerged among the top markets for Indian engineering exports rising by 85 per cent at $583 million for the month under review.
“The trend can now be considered optimistic as growth has been registered for the seventh straight month. Substantial rise was observed in iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, electrical machinery, medical & scientific equipment, railway and transport equipment. EU ranks as the region with highest shipment of engineering products from India during February 2017 with a share of 21 per cent of total engineering exports,” said EEPC India Chairman, Mr. T.S. Bhasin.
He said: “We stick to our view that Indian engineering exports are likely to continue uptrend during the next few months. Economic slowdown in the developed regions seemed to have seen the bottom and is expected to bounce back”. However, it must be ensured that rupee is not artificially shielded.
Iron and steel remained the star performer rising by over 156.50 per cent at $932 million in February 2017, as was the case for products of iron and steel. The product segment went up by 16.44 per cent at $533 million for the month under review.
The non-ferrous metal segment went up by 53 per cent at $688 million for the period. Essentially, the story of growth related to basic segments, reflecting reversal of slowdown which should only improve from hereon, the EEPC noted.