Don’t get gloomy over grim trade outlook, Commerce Secretary tells India Inc

There is no need for Indian industry to get too pessimistic about forecasts of slowing global trade, as the country’s share of world exports is still fairly low and there are opportunities to grab amid a shift to a ‘one-plus’ strategy in global supply chains, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Thursday.

“Many people would be looking at the global headwinds and may be feeling disappointed about those predictions being made… But I think one thing we should understand about India is we hardly represent 2% in the total global exports, so there is a huge opportunity,” he said, adding that countries of similar size have a share of 10% to 15% in world exports.

“So we can easily aim for doubling our exports, we can easily aim for increasing our exports to 10% over a period of time. And therefore, these opportunities exist even if somebody says that world trade scenario is looking bleak, we should not get overly pessimistic about the trade scenario,” Mr. Barthwal said at a national exports summit hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

As the world looks for resilient supply chains post-pandemic, countries as well as businesses are looking at a ‘one-plus’ strategy to reduce dependence on any single supplier nation and are keen to engage with India, he said.

Responding to a query on reported challenges in trade data compilation in recent weeks, Mr. Barthwal said he would examine if that is the case, but noted that delays, if any, in processing the data could perhaps be due to the festive season being underway.