India's exports rise 11.5 per cent to $14.3 billion in January

Merchandise exports from the country rose for the third successive month in January, climbing 11.5 per cent to 14.34 billion, helped by a revival in demand in the West, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said today.

In January 2009 India's exports stood at $12.9 billion and the minister said he expected the uptrend to continue for the whole of the current fiscal, ie, till 31 March 2010.

"Between now and 31 March, we hope to maintain and further strengthen the growth, which will help us in registering healthy export figures and reducing gap substantially," Sharma said.
 
India's exports continued to look up from November, after 13 successive months of decline in the wake of the global economic meltdown since October 2008.

India's exports jumped 18.2 per cent in November 2009 and by 9.3 per cent in December.

While exports in general have shown a rising trend, certain sectors, especially the labour-intensive ones like engineering and textiles, are yet not out of the woods.

Engineering goods, textiles, jute, carpets, handicrafts and leather "continue to do badly" and are a cause of concern, Sharma said, adding that it would take time for India's exports to return to pre-crisis levels despite the recovery in the global economy.

India exports so far during the current fiscal (April-December 2009-10) has been about $133 billion against $144.2 billion in the year-ago period.

The government has set an export target of $200 billion for 2010-11.