Odisha posts 64 per cent growth in merchandise exports, highest in five years
Official sources said the state’s merchandise exports have recorded a healthy growth in terms of both value and volume in last fiscal.
Published: 13th March 2023 07:30 AM | Last Updated: 13th March 2023 07:30 AM | A+A A-
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BHUBANESWAR: The unprecedented disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding, exports from Odisha have registered a growth of 64 per cent (pc), the highest in the last five years, surpassing the Rs 1 lakh crore milestone set by the government.
Official sources said the state’s merchandise exports have recorded healthy growth in terms of both value and volume in the last fiscal. Although the government had set a target of achieving Rs 1 lakh crore exports by 2025, the outbound shipments rose to Rs 1,32,405 crore in 2021-22 from Rs 80,419 crore in 2020-21.
Barring 2018-19, a rising trend in the state’s export continues. The volume of exports was Rs 52,677 crore in 2017-18, Rs 48,119 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 51,742 crore in 2019-20. Major product categories which have recorded growth in both value and volume include engineering, chemical and allied, metallurgy, agriculture and forest, marine, handicraft, textile, pharmaceutical and software and electronics. While engineering, chemical and allied, textile and agriculture and forest sectors have recorded the highest growth, the volume of exports has dropped in mineral and other sectors.
The merchandise exports rose from Rs 38,122 crore to Rs 86,726 crore in metallurgical, Rs 7,854 crore to Rs 15,496 crore in engineering, chemical and allied, Rs 4,701 crore to Rs 5,207 crore in software and electronics, Rs 177 crore to Rs 469 crore in agriculture and forest, Rs 3,114 crore to Rs 4,462 crore in marine, Rs 205 crore to Rs 630 crore in textile, Rs 8.8 crore to Rs 16.32 crore in pharmaceutical and Rs 9 lakh to Rs 2.02 crore in handloom.
The outbound shipments in the mineral sector have come down by 26 pc - from Rs 26,189 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 19,374 crore in 2021-22. For other sectors, it is down from Rs 37 crore to Rs 11 crore. An Industries department official said, the export growth rate was highest at 207 pc in textile, followed by 165 pc in agriculture and forest, 127 pc in metallurgy, 97 pc in engineering, chemical and allied besides 85 pc in the pharmaceutical sector.
“This upward trend will continue in the coming years. The state government has recently introduced a new export policy, which focuses on improvement in standards of quality and products, value addition in traditional exportable products, to achieve a target of Rs 3.5 lakh crore exports by 2026-27,” he added.
