Growth of engineering sector critical for economy: EEPC India chairman
1 min read . Updated: 17 Jan 2023, 05:17 PM IST
PremiumGarodia said the global geopolitical and economic scenario looks somewhat cloudy at present driven by the Russia-Ukraine war and economic instability in North-East Asia and Europe
New Delhi: The growth of the engineering goods sector is critical for the economy considering it is the most labour- intensive industry after agriculture, and contributes around one-fourth of India’s total merchandise exports, said EEPC India chairman Arun Kumar Garodia on Tuesday.
Addressing a function of EEPC India, Garodia said the global geopolitical and economic scenario looks somewhat cloudy at present driven by the Russia-Ukraine war and economic instability in North-East Asia and Europe. He, however, hoped that global trade would see some recovery on the back of easing commodity prices.
EEPC India has been promoting engineering exports from India since its very inception in line with the initiatives of the Government of India and “we are proud to play an instrumental role in helping engineering exports to reach an all-time high of $ 112.10 billion in the last completed fiscal", Garodia said.
He noted that EEPC India is working with the government in turning each district of India into an export hub.
“75 districts have been selected in the first phase for this purpose and EEPC has been preparing notes on potential engineering products of these districts through its Regional Offices," EEPC India Chairman said as he congratulated the winners for their outstanding export performance for the year 2017-18 and 2018-19.
B.D. Agarwal, regional chairman (eastern region), EEPC India said that global trade that started losing momentum in the second half of 2022 is apprehended to worsen in 2023 due to a slowdown in major global economies and crisis in North-East Asia led by economic uncertainty following the outbreak of COVID.
“We hope that the geopolitical turmoil in the CIS region will subside soon and the fear of pandemic will also fade away to give the world economy a new lead in the coming years. India’s merchandise trade is expected to grow further with the recent conclusion of the India-UAE FTA and India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) which provide preferential market access to several products in these countries. We are hopeful that more such FTAs will be signed in times ahead to facilitate trade,“ said Agarwal.
