At $95 Billion, India Clocks Highest Ever Merchandise Exports In Q1 Of FY22

The quarter one of 2021-22 has seen merchandise exports of USD 95 billion, which is the highest ever in the history of India. This is 85 per cent higher than exports of Q1 of 2020-21 and 18 per cent higher than the exports of Q1 of 2019-20 and is higher than the earlier peak of exports in Q4 of 2020-21 (USD 90 billion).

Addressing a press conference on Friday (2 July), Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal showcased the achievements of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Q1 (April - June) of 2021-22. He mentioned how an ambitious target of USD 400 billion exports had been set for 2021-22.

Minister said that the performance of the services sector has also been excellent, and despite the pandemic, almost 97 per cent of 2019-20 service export levels were achieved in the last FY. He said that after deliberations with the stakeholders, he is confident that USD 350 billion service exports can be achieved by 2025 and may even go up to USD 500 billion very soon.

Several labour-intensive sectors have seen rapid export growth. The exports in the engineering goods sector have increased by USD 5.2 billion over Q1 2019-20. Likewise, Rice exports growth has remained positive since May 2020 and rose by 37 per cent in Q1 of 2021-22 compared to Q1 of 2019-20

“India showcased robust export performance in April 2020 compared to major economies of the world. As compared to April 2019, India’s exports growth during April 2021 was higher than other major advanced economies like European Union, Japan, USA, Republic of Korea and United Kingdom,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

Also, India received the highest ever FDI inflow in 2020-21 of USD 81.72 billion. This is higher by 10 per cent compared to USD 74.39 billion achieved in 2019-20. The positive momentum continues with an FDI inflow of USD 6.24 billion during April 2021, 38 per cent higher than April 2020.