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Govt confident of double digit export growth in 2001-02

Undeterred by the dip in exports to the US and other developed economies, the government on Monday asserted that the export growth would be maintained at double-digit levels during the current fiscal due to aggressive export strategies and alterations in export basket of goods.

"We are absolutely confident of a double digit export growth during 2001-02 due to massive increase in exports of non-traditional items such as petroleum products, cement and chemical products which has not been factored in," a top commerce ministry official said.

The official said India had started to emerge as a major player in segments such as steel, which was currently exported to around 39 countries.

Export of steel in the current fiscal, the official said, was expected to rise irrespective of the anti-dumping investigations being initiated against Indian steel by the EU, US, and the duties imposed by Canada.

As per provisional export data complied by the ministry of commerce and industry, exports of iron and steel during the period April-Feburary 2000-01 witnessed a healthy growth of 34 per cent at $965 million compared to $722 million in the same period the previous year.

Similarly, exports of petroleum products during the period witnessed a massive growth of 5453.45 per cent while chemicals and related products posted over 25 per cent growth during the period.

This increase was despite a dip in exports to the US during the period, which posted a negative growth of 23.31 per cent at $2.5 billion as against $3.3 billion in the same period of 1999-2000.

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