HIGHEST EVER! FDI inflow of $81.72 billion in 2020-21; labour-intensive sectors witnessed rapid export growth

India received the highest-ever FDI inflow in 2020-21 of $81.72 billion. This is higher by 10 per cent compared to $74.39 billion achieved in 2019-20. The positive momentum continues with FDI inflow of $6.24 billion during April 2021, which is 38 per cent higher than April 2020, the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Railways and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal informed.   

“India has set a target of $400 billion merchandise exports in 2021-22,” Goyal said.  Several Labour-Intensive sectors have seen rapid export growth. The exports in the engineering goods sector have increased by $5.2 billion over the first quarter of 2019-20. Likewise, rice exports growth has remained positive since May 2020 and rose by 37 per cent in the first quarter of 2021-22 compared to the first quarter of 2019-20, he mentioned.

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

He said that sector-specific interventions, involvement of all the stakeholders and functioning of the Government as a whole helped in achieving the growth.  

Simplification of procedures, extension of timelines and licences, all of that has resulted in the record performance of exports, he added.  

He thanked Narendra Modi for leading from the front, and holding discussions with various stakeholders through webinars after the Union budget, and encouraging everyone to put in their best. 

He further said that the performance of the services sector has also been excellent, and despite the pandemic, almost 97 per cent of 2019-20 service export levels were achieved in the last fiscal. He said that after deliberations with the stakeholders, he is confident that $350 billion service exports can be achieved by 2025, and may even go up to $500 billion very soon. 

The conference was also attended by Ministers of State for Commerce & Industry, Som Parkash and Hardeep Singh Puri. The Secretaries of the Department of Commerce and DPIIT then briefed the media about the achievements of their respective departments. 

Highest-Ever Merchandise Exports in the history of India 

The highest-ever merchandise exports of $95 billion in the first quarter of 2021-22 has been achieved in the history of India. This is 85 per cent higher than exports of the first quarter of 2020-21 and 18 per cent higher than the exports of the first quarter of 2019-20. It is also 16 per cent more than the previous highest the first quarter exports of 2018-19 ($82 billion) and is higher than the earlier peak of exports in the fourth quarter of 2020-21 ($90 billion). 

India’s Exports Performance Vis-a-vis Major Economies in April 2021 

India showcased robust export performance in April 2020 compared to major economies of the world. As compared to April 2019, India’s exports growth during April 2021 was higher than other major advanced economies like the European Union, Japan, USA, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom. 

Startup India 

The number of startups recognised by DPIIT has crossed 50,000 and is spread across 623 districts in India. With these startups nearly 1.8 lakh formal jobs have been created by 16,000+ recognised startups in 2020-21. Several times more have benefited from the Startup ecosystem. 

Reducing Compliance Burden 

To improve the ease of doing business and reduce the compliance burden 6,426 compliances have been reduced in Phase-I. 3,177 compliances are being been reduced in Phase II. The timeline for Phase I was 31st March 2021 & Phase II is 15th August 2021. 

Investment Clearance Cell 

The National Single Window System is a one-stop digital platform to obtain clearances & approvals. In the phase-1 of integration,  43 Depts/Ministries & 14 States Single Window Systems are being on-boarded. The pre-launch version is undergoing extensive testing and we are gearing up for a soft launch. 

He said the world sees India as the trusted and reliable partner and has more confidence in India’s capability to provide quality products and services on time. With the goods and services gaining momentum, a large number of employment opportunities will be generated, the economy will strengthen, revenues will increase, and the government will be able to help the disadvantaged sections in a more substantive manner.