Gupta wants trade issues addressed

Only 17 out of 30 major product groups were in positive territory during May 2019 exports including electronic goods, organic & inorganic chemicals, drugs & pharma, RMG of all textiles, plastics & Linoleum, ceramic products & glassware, handicrafts and commodities.

Besides, a few plantation- and agri-products have shown positive growth during the month, said the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) in reaction to the moderate 3.93% growth in May exports.

FIEO President Ganesh Kumar Gupta has also expressed his concerns on the rising trade deficit primarily on account of swelling crude import bill with further northward movement of prices and ban on Iranian imports along with rising gold import.

Gupta said that domestic issues including access to credit, cost of credit especially for merchant exporters, interest equalization support to all agri exports, benefits on sales to foreign tourists and exemption from IGST under Advance Authorization Scheme with retrospective effect should be seriously looked into.

Besides these, budgetary support for marketing and exports related infrastructure are some of the other key issues, which needs immediate attention of the government in the upcoming budget.

Gupta has again highlighted MSME sectors still facing the problem of liquidity besides various other challenges including uncertainties owing to tariff war, volatility in commodities/currencies, rapid rise in trade restrictive measures and constraints on the domestic front.

Globally, FIEO Chief is of the view that due to US-China Trade war and developments in Iran has further aggravated the problem in the world economy.

The uncertainty attached to it will also affect the flow of investment and add to currency volatility, he said. fiinews.com