The commerce ministry is working on an export promotion strategy to boost shipments of chemicals, plastics and allied products sector to push the growth of the country’s overall exports, an official said. For the formulation of the strategy, the ministry has constituted a sub-group to deliberate upon the issues of the sector. The group, which held its first meeting on July 3, discussed the constraints hampering the growth of exports of chemicals, plastics and allied sectors.
The exercise is part of the overall initiative of the ministry to work on sectoral export promotion strategy to boost the country’s merchandise exports. Exports of organic, inorganic and agrochemicals grew by 38 per cent to USD 10.7 billion in 2017-18. Similarly, exports of plastics and its products rose to USD 5.3 billion in 2017-18 from USD 5.24 billion in the previous fiscal.
The main destination for these shipments includes the US, China, the UAE, Malaysia and Korea. Since 2011-12, India’s exports have been hovering at around USD 300 billion. During 2017-18, the shipments grew by about 10 per cent to USD 303 billion. Promoting exports helps a country to create jobs, boost manufacturing and earn more foreign exchange.