Two industries in the manufacturing sector, capable of generating jobs in high-scale, are consistently leading India’s exports from the front. Pharma and textiles are these two industries that are not only fulfilling the country’s domestic demand but have a huge trade surplus due to high exports.

During April-November 2019, items worth Rs 96,716 crore in the pharma sector were exported, while the imports were of Rs 32,302 crore, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. Similarly, in the textile sector in the same duration, exports were of Rs 1,58,931 crore, whereas items worth Rs 42,081 crore were imported.

After China and the US, India is the world’s third-largest textile exporting nation with a share of 6 per cent. Textile exports have increased by 7 per cent on-year in FY19 while textile imports have remained stagnant. “To curtail imports of textiles, the government has doubled the Basic Custom Duty from 10 per cent to 20 per cent on 383 apparel HS lines from 16 July 2018,” Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles, said in a reply to a question in Lok Sabha last month.

In order to achieve growth and to boost the textile sector in the country thereby increasing productivity and employment, the government has taken many initiatives in recent years. Some of them are rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (ROSCTL), enhanced customs duty to boost domestic manufacturing, special package of Rs 6,000 crore for textile and apparel sector, enhanced duty drawback coverage/rebate of state levies (ROSL) on Export of Garments, SAMARTH- The Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS), etc.

Similarly, manufacturing of drugs come under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and according to the knowledge paper prepared by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India’s chemical industry is estimated at USD 163 billion in FY18 and it is estimated to grow at about 9 per cent per annum to double to USD 304 billion by FY25. However, the trade surplus is specifically seen in the pharma items, not in other chemical products. Meanwhile, agriculture, marine, and leather are the other three industries where the trade is in surplus during April – November in the current fiscal.

Published On : 16-01-2020

Source : Financial Express