New Delhi : Worried over a steep decline in exports, the Commerce Ministry has sought Rs 300 crore to develop export infrastructure around ports.
“We have to modernise our export infrastructure in order to boost exports. Export situation is not good. We have sought Rs 300 from the Finance Ministry to develop the infrastructure,” a top commerce ministry official told PTI.
The amount is proposed to be used this fiscal only to set testing laboratories, certification centres, warehouses, cold storages, convention centres and exhibition centres around ports.
The Commerce Ministry has identified some ports where the funds would be deployed. The official said the Finance Ministry has provided only Rs 50 crore, which is not adequate.
India’s exports dipped deeper into the negative zone, recording a decline of 21% in March, the biggest fall in the past six years, pulling down the total shipment for 2014-15 to USD 310.5 billion, missing the target of USD 340 billion.
Exports have been on a downward loop since December last year. The previous biggest decline in export was in July 2009, when it slumped 28.4 per cent.
India’s exports are contracting mainly because of inadequate infrastructure, global demand slowdown, soft crude oil prices, and a declining competitiveness of Indian exporters.
An industry expert said inadequate infrastructure and old testing and certification facilities near ports are impacting the country’s exports adversely, besides pushing the transaction costs up.
