New Delhi, Nov 19: Government today ruled out revising export growth target downwards in the wake of rupee appreciation and said it was slated to grow at 12 per cent during this fiscal. "We are sticking to out targets and not revising them, as we are reasonably confident of 12 per cent growth in exports this fiscal," Director General of Foreign Trade L Mansingh said on the sidelines of a CII conference here.
Exports grew by 10 per cent at 27.43 billion dollar in the first half of this fiscal from 24.94 billion dollar during April-September 2002.
After a sluggish growth in August, exports bounced back in September this year to post 16 per cent growth at 4.98 billion dollar as against 4.29 billion dollar a year ago.
But the cumulative export growth is yet to touch the targeted 12 per cent mark.
"We are fairly confident that exports will do well. We are comparing this fiscal's performance with the spectacular growth of 20 per cent last fiscal," Mansingh said.
He sought to allay fears that the rupee appreciation against the greenback was hurting India's external trade, saying the country was in a better position in terms of non-oil imports like edible oils.
"Exporters are competitive enough to take the growth to a high level," he added.
The DGFT also said government was considering merger of the duty exemption pass book scheme with the duty drawback schemes by 2004-05 and come up with a uniform scheme, which would take care of the needs of all segments of industry. Bureau Report