India's Total Exports Set to Reach $330 bn: Com Secy

India is projected to achieve all-time record exports of $330 billion in the fiscal 2018-19 with a major contribution coming from the engineering sector, said Union Commerce Secretary Dr Anup Wadhawan, while inaugurating the 8th International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS) in Chennai on Thursday.

IESS -VIII, being organised by the EEPC India with active support from the Union Commerce Ministry and the Department of Heavy Industry is slated to be India’s largest display of engineering products and solutions with around 400 exhibitors, 500 overseas buyers and 10,000 trade visitors participating in the March 14-16 show. The exhibition will also have dedicated B2B sessions with foreign buyers, and vendor development programmes with leading PSUs in defence, space, infrastructure and engineering.

Tamil Nadu is hosting the prestigious event for the third time in a row, while Malaysia is the Partner Country of the IESS. India-Malaysia bilateral trade aggregated to $14.71 billion in 2017-18, with total exports from India to Malaysia amounting to $5.7 billion while its imports from Malaysia stood at around $9 billion. The Malaysian delegation is led by Datuk K Talagavathi, Deputy Secretary-General (Industry), Ministry of International Trade, Malaysia. She expressed her optimism in enhancing bilateral trade in the years to come.

The Commerce Secretary said engineering exports account for about a quarter of India’s total exports. Given the protectionism sweeping major countries of the world and engineering being one of the segments affected by such restrictive measures, the exporting firms should look at innovative methods to enhance competitiveness and take advantage of various market access opportunities.

Dr Wadhawan. EEPC India Chairman, said that he refers, in particular, to the better utilization of Free Trade Agreements by Indian exporters. The data shows that Indian exporters have not been very good users of FTA preferential benefits that India has negotiated with partner countries. They have carried out a large number of trade facilitation measures in the last four and half years and are in the process of streamlining our processes further, he said adding that he, therefore, urges their member exporters to use the tariff preferences provided in the FTAs to enhance their market presence globally.''

Ravi Sehgal said that  IESS has a novelty of bringing Technology to Ayurveda through the new concept of AyurTech. India is known for its strength in Ayurveda and with technology interventions, Indian Ayurveda will be able to reach new milestones and global destinations, he said.

Likewise, Indian Design Council has also set up a Design Pavilion at IESS and its jury will be meeting to select the I-Mark for industrial products. Indeed, ergonomics of products is becoming a critical feature of industrial goods along with technical specifications and quality.

The broad theme is Smart Engineering with four pillars: “Subcontracting”; “Industrial & Electrical Machinery”, “Future Factory” and “Innovation and Technology”. The engineering talent that will be at display spans nearly 1800 tariff lines at 8 digit and is a microcosm of India’s and global capability in hardcore metal and metal-based engineering. The over 400 Indian exhibitors participating here are a healthy sample of India’s engineering sector which accounts for around 12 percent of India’s GDP, 30% of India’s total factories in the organized sector and 29 percent of total employment in the organized sector.  

Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand are participating with their companies to showcase their capabilities, talk about their investment opportunities to global players The MSME sector, which is the bedrock of the engineering value change and sourcing, will benefit immensely from this show and develop contacts internally as well as globally. Flanders is the focus region for the third time.