Supply chain focus expected in Budget

Exports will remain one of the key drivers of India’s economic growth in 2023-24 and the coming budget will encourage imports of inputs rather than finished goods, incentivise value addition in the country, nudge businesses to explore new markets, boost services exports and provide a conducive policy environment to make India part of the global supply-chain for goods and services, two officials aware of the development said.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday heard voices of stakeholders belonging to companies in both merchandise and services exports and assured them that she would address their concerns in order to facilitate the country’s exports, the two added, requesting anonymity. Both the government and the industry are concerned about the recent fall in exports due to a slowdown in major economies because of global headwinds, they said.

India’s merchandise exports in October declined by 16.65% to $29.78 billion; , however, overall goods exports in April-October saw a 12.5% growth to $263.35.