President Pranab Mukherjee has called for “appropriate policy interventions” to support exporters and help them face the challenges of a sluggish global demand.

Pointing out that other countries were giving incentives to support their industry, the President said India needed to do the same.

“We today observe that several developed countries have consciously introduced special concessions and stimulus packages to manage the present downturn. We in India also need to ensure our exporters are adequately supported through appropriate policy interventions,” he said at the inauguration of Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) here.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the ECGC had played an important role in ensuring growth in India’s goods exports in the aftermath of downturn that hit the global economy in 2008 by sharing their risks.

“ECGC will have to continue handholding our exporters in these trying times in our traditional markets. Exports will have to be given that kind of focus having seen continuous decline over several months,” she said.

India’s goods exports in April-September 2016-17 fell 1.74 per cent to $131.40 billion compared to the same period last fiscal. In 2015-16, exports declined 15.85 per cent to $261.13 billion. Exports grew 4.62 per cent to $22.9 billion in September this year, but the situation is still slippery.

The Commerce Minister added that it was imperative for ECGC to support exporters in expanding to newer markets such as Africa, Latin America and South East Asia, which are growing, but are highly challenging.

“If our exporters show enterprise and go into the newer terrains, it is for ECGC to stand by them and support them and to see that they do not face any risk which are unforeseen,” Sitharaman said.

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