India's overall exports have crossed an all-time high of $750 billion, Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. The country's exports have risen from $500 billion in 2020-2021 to this figure in extremely challenging times, he said, referring to adverse economic conditions globally due to a combination of factors including high inflation and war in Ukraine.
In 2021-22, the country's goods and services exports touched an all-time high of $422 billion and $254 billion respectively, taking the total shipments to $676 billion.
Speaking at the ASSOCHAM Annual Session 2023, Goyal said there has been healthy growth in both merchandise and service sectors. He said given the fact that the whole world is in recession, inflation is at an all-time high for most developed countries, interest rates are shooting up and there's a sense of doom and gloom in the rest of the world, "India's performance fills us with pride".
Goyal talked about the two key free trade agreements signed last year with UAE and Australia. He said India's trade agreements with Australia and UAE have been welcomed by industry across the three countries and the speed, quality, and extensive stakeholder consultations resulting in finding the right equitable balance have been appreciated by all sections.
India signed the trade deal with UAE last year in March. As per a statement issued then, India will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 per cent of its tariff lines which account for 99 per cent of Indian exports to the UAE in value terms.
The minister said that a series of FTAs were under different stages of discussion to further expand the trade and will further open up game-changing opportunities for the economy.
As per commerce ministry data released earlier this month, India's exports dipped in February for the third consecutive month by 8.8 per cent to $33.88 billion against $37.15 billion in the same month last year.
Imports also declined by 8.21 per cent to $51.31 billion as against $55.9 billion recorded in the corresponding month last year. The country's trade deficit in February stood at $17.43 billion.