The export of goods valued at $5.10 billion in March this year. Export earnings increased by about 10 percent. This information was revealed in the updated report of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) released on Tuesday (April 2). However, The earnings from exported goods fell short of the export target form the last month by 0.88 percent. In the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year, overall exports worth $43.55 billion, which is 4.39 percent higher than the same period of the previous year, according to the EPB data. Meanwhile, export earnings in  readymade garments, agriculture and plastic sectors have increased. In the nine months of the fiscal year, export earnings in the readymade garment sector increased by about 5.5 percent.

Ministry of External Affairs of India has decided to allow onion export on a limited scale to five more countries, including Bangladesh.  Earlier, Bangladesh had sent a formal letter to the Indian government to allow the export of sugar and onions in a certain quantity to reduce the price of onion in the country during the holy month of Ramadan. However, India is the world's second largest onion exporter. The Indian government banned onion exports on December 8, 2023. The ban was later extended till March this year. Because the country wanted to control the rising prices in the domestic market by ensuring adequate supply.   

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Jan 21) asked all concerned to pay the same importance given to readymade garments, to other export items, including jute and leather goods, pharmaceuticals, IT products and handicrafts to increase foreign earnings. "We need to urgently maintain balance in import and export. I will urge everyone to be more careful about that," she said. "We need to urgently maintain balance in import and export. I will urge everyone to be more careful about that," she said. The prime minister told this while inaugurating the month-long 28th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) at Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre (BBCFEC) at Purbachal. She put emphasis on searching for new markets and products for the export basket to reduce dependency on handful of destinations. "For that we need to look for new products, new destinations and markets abroad. We should not be dependent on one or two markets worldwide," PM said. In this connection, she mentioned that Bangladesh has to overcome various types of hurdles and barriers to send its export items worldwide. Sheikh Hasina, chief of the ruling Awami League, said in the party's manifesto for the January 7 election that the Awami League projected export earnings at $150 billion by 2030. "But for that we have to catch new markets, and our time is short. Above all, if we have fixed targets, it will be easy to attain those. We want to work in this way," she said.   State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam, Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Mahbubul Alam, and vice-chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) AHM Ahsan also spoke at the programme.   From the inaugural programme, the prime minister also declared Handicrafts Products as the product of 2024. A documentary on the export trading of the country was screened at the programme.  

Retailers are selling onions at as high as Tk 200 a kilogramme in and outside of Dhaka, compared with Tk 130 on Thursday (Dec 7) in a shock development for consumers reeling under the higher cost of living. The prices of onions have increased by Tk 50 to Tk 60 per kg in Khulna as elsewhere in Bangladesh shortly after India banned its export till March 31 next year. The prices jumped in the wake of India's extension of the onion export ban on Friday. The neighbouring country India extended the ban until March, 2024 – three weeks before the current phase of restriction expired on December 31 – in order to increase the supply in the domestic market and control the price of the vegetable. Though wholesalers and retailers in Bangladesh are blaming India's ban extension for the sudden increase, market observers questioned the spike since the embargo was not new. Nahidul Islam, an onion trader, said the price of imported onion was higher as the importers imported onion at high price.  However, the recent announcement of India restricting export also made the onion market unstable. "There is no reason for the onion price to almost double overnight."    But retailers were selling the homegrown variety of onion at Tk 204 a kg at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka today (Dec 9), compared with Tk 130 per kg on Thursday. Prices of Indian onion rose to Tk 110 from Tk 50 to Tk 60 per kg. "Besides, there is not enough supply as per demand in the local market." Mohammad Abdul Mazed, general secretary of the Shyambazar Onion Wholesalers Association, said that India's export ban has had a big impact on the country's market. Rains in the past few days have also affected the prices. "Supply crunch is another reason for the price hike." The price has rocketed not just in Dhaka but also in other parts of the country.  

While major economies around the world still seem to be reeling from the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian economy has a different story to tell altogether. India’s exports have surged to an unprecedented $776 billion, marking a 36 percent increase from just $500 billion two years ago. The country’s goods exports are up nearly 53 per cent in the last two years from a four-year low of $292 billion during FY 2020-21, thanks to the post-Covid surge in the country’s foreign trade. Although significant challenges remain in the global environment, India has turned out to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world last fiscal. In the backdrop of a global slowdown, this robust growth trajectory, which is a testimony to the resilience of the Indian economy, is primarily fuelled by three factors:  Services exports grew by 56.4 percent from $206 billion in FY 2020-21. This sharp uptick in India’s service exports in the last two years has ended a period of poor show by the foreign trade sector in the previous five years. This growth is expected to continue further at 25 per cent, majorly propelled by a rapid rise in the exports of small services which include digital marketing, web development and SaaS products. The services sector in India is marked by a young, tech-savvy workforce; abundantly qualified engineers and widespread internet access which are the key contributors to this growth story. By leveraging its demographic advantages and technological prowess, this sector has managed to seamlessly deliver high-quality services at competitive prices, thereby solidifying its position in the global services hub.  While the IT services category is expanding silently at its own pace, contributing close to 45% of the total services exports, there’s another category that has been pushing the growth. Business services, which include accounting, audit, quality assurance, research and development, management consulting, and building digital and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities account for 25 per cent of the services exports.  Global Capacity Centers The surge in exports of business services has also been driven by Global Capability Centres (GCC) or captive technology facilities of large global lenders and MNCs that are primarily situated in India. India now has 1,500 GCCs peppered across the country which employ 1.3 million people. In fact, 45 per cent of the world’s GCCs are now in India. Overall, this segment is growing at almost double the pace of software services due to the deep talent pool availability of skilled yet lower-cost workers in the country. India’s transformation from Shared Services Companies (SSCs) as cost centers to Centers of Excellence (COEs) to profit-centric Global Capacity Centers is a remarkable shift. Such Global Business Services (GBS) models, often reporting to global CXOs, offer cost optimization, process efficiency, and digital transformation. Similarly, Finance COEs, vital for audits and risk mitigation, leverage India’s talented workforce and technology infrastructure to create strategy, help with systems design, and develop software from scratch. As a result, SSCs, once transactional, have now evolved into strategic value centers. According to a report by Nasscom and research firm Zinnov, India will be home to around 320 new GCCs by the fiscal year ending 2025 while the market will jump 33 per cent to $60 billion in the same period. With 440+ Finance Shared Services COEs and over 700,000 employees in Tier 1 and 2 cities, India is now a global gold mine. This transition signifies India’s pivotal role as a hub for value creation and profit generation, crucial for global organizations. Manufacturing Exports  The goods exports are expected to grow at 10 per cent year on year. The continued efforts from the Indian government in the form of government-led schemes on merchandise export, duty exemption, export promotion capital goods, and transport and marketing assistance has greatly helped boost exports. Additionally, government investments in infrastructure, logistics, and transportation have assisted with streamlining the supply chain, and upskilling programs have helped improve the competitiveness of Indian goods. Initiatives such as the  Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) wherein companies get subsidies if they scale up manufacturing in India instead of importing goods into the country, coupled with the China plus One strategy that’s being increasingly adopted by companies to diversify their production and supply chain activities by adding an alternative manufacturing location to China, is also helping India diversify beyond its traditional export segments to sectors such as electronics & semiconductors.  Lastly, the government is also encouraging exports by signing free-trade agreements with several countries to ease market access for Indian exporters. In the last three years, India has signed free trade agreements with Japan, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Singapore and talks are ongoing with the United Kingdom. While India continues to boast an impressive growth story, we still have a long way to go. The infrastructure costs as a percentage of total production cost for India is much higher compared to its global peers. In 2022, China’s merchandise exports were a whopping 20 per cent of its GDP whereas for India, it is at 11 per cent. Boosting exports in India requires a concerted effort across various fronts. Doubling down on infrastructure investment, trade financing and working capital financing, and effective cross border payments are some of the ways in which we can address these gaps. In essence, a comprehensive approach that addresses infrastructure, workforce, payment systems, financing, and trade documentation will provide the impetus needed to elevate India’s exports to new heights, fostering economic growth and global competitiveness.

India's seafood exports, both in terms of volume and value, achieved an all-time high in 2022-23. It shipped 1.7 million tonnes of seafood worth Rs 63,969.14 crore (USD 8.09 billion) during the financial year, growing 26.73 per cent in quantity terms and 4.31 per cent in value terms over 2021-22. According to a press statement from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in terms of both quantity and value while USA and China turned out to be the major importers of India's seafood. Frozen shrimp, which earned Rs 43,135.58 crore (USD 5481.63 million), retained its position as the most significant item in the basket of seafood exports, accounting for a share of 40.98 per cent in quantity and 67.72 per cent of the total dollar earnings. In rupee terms, shrimp exports during the period increased by 1.01 per cent. Frozen fish, the second largest exported item, fetched Rs 5,503.18 crore (USD 687.05 million) accounting for 21.24 per cent in quantity and 8.49 per cent in dollar earnings.  This year the export of frozen fish has increased by 62.65 per cent, 58.51 per cent, and 45.73 per cent in quantity, rupee and dollar value terms respectively. The US, China, and the European Union are key markets for Indian seafood. South East Asia is the fourth largest market.

The US remains the top destination for India's engineering goods exports in the financial year 2022-23 with total shipments value recording 6.8 per cent year-on-year growth to USD 18.67 billion. The other key markets, which registered positive growth, include the UK, Germany, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Indonesia. Exports of engineering goods to China continued a downward trend month after month. In FY23, engineering shipments to China fell by 52.4 per cent year-on-year to USD 2.63 billion from USD 5.53 billion in the previous year. The other top markets that recorded negative growth during the year included UAE, Turkey, and Thailand. After reaching their all-time high at USD 112.16 billion during fiscal 2021-22, engineering exports from India finished fiscal 2022-23 at USD 107.04 billion, a decline of 4.57 per cent. In terms of the rupee, however, engineering exports recorded 2.77 per cent growth year-on-year. This disparity was due to the substantial year-on-year depreciation of the rupee vis-a-vis the US Dollar in 2022-23. Geo-political crisis in the CIS region led by the Russia-Ukraine war, the economic slowdown in North-East Asia especially China, the crisis in South-East Asia, and the slowdown in Europe are the major factors responsible for the lower shipment of engineering goods from India during FY23. "The decline was a direct result of the depressed global demand, especially in the metal sector. FY23 in general has been a difficult year for global trade. While the end of FY22 marked the recovery from the COVID pandemic it was soon overshadowed by the Russia-Ukraine crisis which dented the European and Central Asian economies to a significant extent," said EEPC India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia. He further said the decline could have been sharper if timely government measures had not been made. "We appreciate the efforts made by the Ministry of Commerce which has always been forthcoming in coming up with relief measures. Besides, the encouraging words by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi have had a catalytic effect. We are grateful for the launch of the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 which covers all important aspects of trade including ease of doing business, introduction of Rupee trade, including the states and the districts in export strategy, export incentives, and infrastructure and logistics," said Garodia. According to the Quick Estimates of the Commerce ministry of the Central government, the share of engineering exports in India's total merchandise exports during fiscal 2022-23 was 23.92 per cent as against a higher 26.58 per cent in fiscal 2021-22. Panel-wise analysis showed that out of 34 engineering panels, 22 recorded growth in exports during 2022-23 while 12 conceded a decline in shipment. Iron and steel were the main spoilsports behind the decline in engineering exports with a 41.52 per cent decline in exports during 2022-23 over the previous fiscal. Excluding the iron and steel panel, engineering exports in 2022-23 recorded 4.91 per cent growth over the previous fiscal. Among the major panels, 'Motor Vehicles/Cars', 'Products of Iron and Steel', 'Electric Machinery and Equipment', 'Industrial Machinery', "Medical and Scientific Instruments', 'Ships, Boats, and Floating Structures' and 'Auto Components/Parts' recorded higher shipments over the previous fiscal while basic metals like Iron & Steel, 'Aluminium and products' and 'Copper and Products' recorded a decline in shipments. Indian engineering exports continued to decline for the fifth straight month to March 2023 and for eight months in fiscal 2022-23. During March 2023, engineering exports declined by 7.49 per cent to USD 10.19 billion from USD 11.01 billion in March 2022. As many as 16 out of 34 engineering panels witnessed positive year-on-year growth in March 2023, while the remaining 18 panels witnessed negative growth in exports. Major engineering products like Iron and Steel, Products of Iron and Steel, Aluminium and products, Industrial Machinery, Electrical Machinery and Equipment, Two and Three wheelers, Bicycle parts, Auto Tyres, and Hand tools witnessed a decline in exports during March 2023 vis-a-vis March 2022. Excluding the export of iron and steel, engineering exports recorded a 3.26 per cent year-on-year decline in March 2023. Global trade sentiments continue to remain bleak, WTO economists in April 2023 said in a new forecast that merchandise trade is expected to grow 1.7 per cent as against 2.7 per cent last year. The subpar performance will be mainly due to the Ukraine crisis, high inflation, tighter monetary policy, and financial market uncertainty.

Indian smartphone export is likely to have crossed USD 10 billion (over Rs 82,000 crore) in the previous financial year 2023, according to the new industry data. Apple's 'Make in India' smartphones now constitute 50 per cent of total exports, followed by Samsung with 40 per cent of mobile exports and other smartphone players constituting the remaining 10 per cent of the export share, the Asian Lite reported. India is going strong in its electronics manufacturing sector and making a mark globally. Smartphone manufacturing is something the government is very keenly focussing on. The Telecom industry is on the government's priority list. India is now being preferred by Global manufacturing giants. Recently, Samsung opened the world's largest phone manufacturing unit in India. Other major global giants like Apple have moved significant units in the country too. Global enterprises like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Lava have also set up their bases and expanded operationally in India, the Asian Lite reported. "The mobile phone industry will cross USD 40 billion manufacturing output and 25 per cent exports at USD 10 billion is a stellar performance," stated Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of ICEA. Smartphone exports from India have doubled from a corresponding period from last fiscal year, driven by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. The top five global destinations India currently exports mobile phones to are the UAE, the US, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, according to the ICEA data. India has more than 260 units manufacturing mobile phones and accessories now, with only two units operational in 2014. Thus, India has come a long way in the mobile manufacturing sector. This is one industry where the 'Make in India' drive has worked on the ground, the Asian Lite reported citing NewsonAir. The country has witnessed a splendid growth rate in mobile phone manufacturing, charting a global success story. In Budget 2023, it was revealed that mobile phone production in the country increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over Rs 2,75,000 crore in the last financial year. With this, the custom duty of 2.5 per cent on the import of certain parts and inputs like camera lens were waived off in this Budget. The relief has been extended to further reduce input costs, deepen value addition, promote export competitiveness and boost domestic manufacturing. India's mobile exports were close to 'zero' in 2015 and reached a mark of Rs 27,000 crore in 2019-20. The real game-changer has been the PLI Scheme. According to IT Ministry, mobile phone manufacturing saw a 66 per cent rise to Rs 45,000 crore within the first year of the roll-out of the scheme in April 2020. "Due to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, India is currently one of the fastest-growing mobile phone manufacturers in the world and has emerged as the second-largest manufacturer of mobile handsets in the world in volume terms," India's IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said earlier.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India set up a new Ministry of Cooperation on July 2021 with an objective to provide renewed impetus to the growth of the Cooperative Sector and realization of the vision from Cooperation to Prosperity. The Ministry is working incessantly for the development of the cooperative sector, in collaboration with all State Governments and other stakeholders stated the government on Saturday. In this background, a two-day Conference of State Cooperation Ministers was organized by the Ministry of Cooperation at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on September 8 and 9. On an opening day, the conference began with a welcome speech by Minister of State for Cooperation, B. L. Verma and an inaugural address by the Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah. On day one of the conference, State Ministers of Cooperation, Lt. Governors of UTs and several senior officials put their thoughts forward on a number of sectors associated with Cooperation. In the two-day conference, Cooperation Ministers from 21 states and Lt. Governors of 2 UTs, Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary (M/o Cooperation, Government of India), Vijay Kumar, Additional Secretary and Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Chief and Addl. Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies of the States/UTsshared their views and suggestions for strengthening the cooperative sector. All States/UTs made presentations and shared their best practices amongst themselves, informed the Ministry release. Deliberations were held on various important themes including - National Cooperation Policy, National Cooperative Database, New Proposed Schemes of Ministry of Cooperation viz. PACS in every Panchayat, Export of Agro-based and other products, promotion and marketing of Organic Products, expansion of Co-operatives to New Areas. Further, Subjects related to PACS and Model Bye-Laws including PACS Computerization, Action Plan for Revitalization of defunct PACS, Model Bye-Laws of PACS were also discussed along with issues related to Primary Co-operative Societies regarding prioritizing long-term financing, Milk Co-operative Societies and Fish Cooperative Societies etc. NCDC being a leader in cooperative financing informed about the prospects and avenues of lending to the Cooperative sector, with facilitation through its Regional Directorates across States. Shri Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary, (Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India) highlighted the strength of the Cooperative movement in the Country and requested States to adopt the state of art Software along with up-to-date hardware under the Project on computerization of PACS, as approved by the Government of India. Further, to give a boost to the export of Cooperatives, the Ministry is facilitating the registration of a National Level Cooperative Export House under the MSCS Act 2002, that will work in close coordination with the Union Ministry of External Affairs and Union Ministry of Commerce to harness the export potential of nearly 30 Crore people associated with the Cooperative movement. The Secretary (Cooperation) also briefed about the Multi-State Cooperative Society being registered for production, procurement, branding and marketing of Organic products and Quality Seeds. He further conveyed that the Ministry of Cooperation has been taking action to ensure that cooperatives are treated at par with the other economic forms. The conference concluded with the resolve of all stakeholders to work together for giving impetus to a cooperative-based economic model in the country to realize the mantra of Sahkar Se Samaridhi. Source: ANI

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Thursday) underlined the need for focusing on export to earn foreign currencies instead of depending on remittance. "We have to more focus on export to earn foreign currencies instead of only depending on remittance," she said. The prime minister also asked all concerned to diversify local products to explore new markets abroad. She was inaugurating 24 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Centennial TTC at the upazila level, joining virtually from her official Ganabhaban residence in the capital. The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) organised the function at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in city. "We have to take initiatives to earn foreign currencies by making local products multidimensional to find out fresh markets abroad," she said. The premier said some people of the country are making illogical comments and spreading rumours about the foreign currency reserve, adding it is common that the reserve would be more or less. "I believe, it is enough to have foreign currency reserve to purchase food for three months," she continued. But, she said Bangladesh has to shrink dependency on other countries for consumer products and food items. "We can utilise properly the people and fertile lands we have. We have to modernise the process of preserving foods and establish food processing industries largely," the prime minister said. In such way, the demand of the local markets would be fulfilled and locally made products can be exported to earn foreign currencies, she added. Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad, its parliamentary affairs committee Chairman Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Secretary Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen and BMET Director General Md Shahidul Alam, spoke on the occasion. A documentary on the TTCs was screened at the function. Source: BSS AH