NEW DELHI: At a time when global trade is facing geo-political uncertainties, India’s exports of goods like automobiles and gold jewellery have ventured into uncharted territories of Central Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to an analysis by the commerce ministry.
The analysis has shown that India has penetrated into what are termed as “absolutely new markets” in regions such as Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and North America during April-December 2023.
The “absolutely new markets” refer to areas where India did see any export during April-December 2022, but healthy growth of certain principal commodities like motor vehicles, two- and three-wheelers, petroleum products, sugar, gold and other precious jewellery were recorded in April-December 2023.
Exports of these commodities to the absolutely new markets during April-December 2023 stood at $234 million as against nil shipments during the same period of 2022. It added that these commodities captured a greater number of markets in the Central Asia, Africa, and European regions. A comprehensive examination of country-wise exports underscores a notable diversification of markets for India’s merchandise exports, characterised by the exploration of new export destinations, in spite of strong global headwinds with subdued performance globally,” an official said.
The official added that after evaluating the market diversification of the country’s merchandise exports across major sectors at the principal commodity level, comparing the periods from April-December 2022-23 to April-December 2023-24, significant advancements in market diversification emerged in the current fiscal.