India will meet its exports target of USD 800 billion this year: Commerce Secretary – ETCFO

New Delhi [India], November 14 (ANI): India’s exports surged by over 19 per cent in October. As per the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, data merchandise exports were up by over 17 per cent while services exports were up by over 21 per cent.

Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal was upbeat on the trade data and said, “It has been an extremely good month for us, and not only our overall export progress has been extremely good, but if you look at April to October, this has been the highest ever non-petroleum exports from this country ever. So we have broken all the records.”

In India’s trade history, from April to October this is the highest so far. Between April and October 2024, India’s total export stands at around USD 468.27 billion, up 7.28 per cent year-on-year.

On USD 800 billion for FY25, Commerce Secretary, said, “I hope that if we continue in this manner, then definitely, we are going to cross more than USD 800 billion of our exports in this year, and we will break the records.”

The Commerce Secretary said that the government’s strategy to focus on exports has yielded results.

“Our strategy of focusing on, certain sectors, our strategy of focusing on certain countries, is perhaps now yielding results. It is also that our manufacturing competitiveness, which is coming because of our focus on PLI is now yielding results” said Barthwal.

Government focus on key sectors like manufacturing, engineering, textile etc has helped in boosting exports.

He said, “Engineering goods exports have increased by more than 39 per cent, electronic goods export have increased by more than 45 per cent, organic and inorganic chemical exports have increased by more than 27 per cent and thankfully now, because of the export controls which we had in view of the food security on rice, rice exports have also increased by more than 85 per cent.”

He added, “The best part is that if you look at our labour-intensive exports, particularly readymade garments, of textile they have also increased by more than 35 per cent. So all our focus sectors are doing extremely well.”

However, the trade deficit too widened from USD 60.02 billion to USD 63.24 billion in 2024-25 which remains a concern for the government. The overall trade deficit has lowered from USD 121.6 billion in 2022-23 to USD 75.6 billion in 2023-24. (ANI)