FIEO To Focus On New Products, Markets

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FIEO To Focus On New Products, Markets

Apex exporters’ body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has said it will focus on new products and markets for diversification with a view to boost the country’s outbound shipments. FIEO President A Sakthivel also said that the order booking position is encouraging till October, but many exporters are not in a position to take further contracts due to erosion of liquidity and uncertainties on the policy front. “I have raised the issue of shortage of containers, frequent shutouts by the shipping lines and exorbitant freight rates, that are having a dampening effect on the exports, with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal,” he said at the organisation’s annual general meeting. The other issues which FIEO has raised with the government include rationalisation of export policy of raw material to strike a balance between exports and domestic requirement; automatic enhancement of the existing working capital requirement by 20-25% by banks; extension of factoring facilities with institutions like ECGC; and removal of transport and logistics problems by regulating movement of empty containers from India. “The federation has also highlighted the skyrocketting freight rates between 300-350%, and to some destinations like South America and West Africa, it is over 500%. It was suggested that freight subsidy may be given till freight charges normalise,” he said. He added that large ships may be encouraged to call on some Indian ports so that the backlog is reduced; and the Shipping Corporation of India may be asked to take a few ships on lease for sailing to major exports/imports destinations. Speaking at the meeting, FIEO Vice Chairman Khalid Khan said that the continuous growth in exports since March will help in achieving the target of US$ 400 billion for this fiscal. “We are confident that we can revive our export growth and meet the export target of US$ 400 billion by this fiscal and US$ 1,000 billion by 2027 set by the government. This will mean registering annual export growth of above 25% for the next five years, which is challenging but achievable,” Khan said.