New Delhi, Oct 22: Worried over the appreciating Rupee, exporters today sounded alarm bells saying export growth could further dip to three per cent if corrective measures were not taken immediately. Speaking to reporters after meeting Commerce Secretary Dipak Chatterjee, Federation of Indian Export Organisations President Rafique Ahmed said there were chances of export growth further going down if government did not take substantial corrective measures.
Earlier in the day, Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley had termed the dip in august export growth as "transient" saying said the trend would be known only in the coming months.
"This (the dip) is transient... You wait and see what is the trend in the coming months," he told reporters on the sidelines of a Ficci seminar.
Export growth slowed down to 4.1 per cent in August apparently in the wake of appreciating Rupee.
In Rupee terms, the exports growth was only 4.1 per cent during April-August and in August it was worse, recording a negative of 1.5 per cent growth over the corresponding period in the previous year, according to the latest trade data.
Pointing out that Rupee had appreciated by 5.8 per cent since January, Ahmed said about 59 per cent exporters in a survey carried out by FIEO had indicated to have been severely affected by fall in Dollar value.
Bureau Report