India’s exports growth may slow to 15-17.5% in FY23 but containment of Covid-19 through massive vaccination across the globe and creation of required capacity will be the decisive factors, the country’s top exporters body has said.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) on Thursday said that FY22 is expected to end with merchandise exports of $400 billion, a growth of 37.6% over $290.6 billion of exports in FY21, but the aim for the next fiscal is $460-475 billion.

Since $400 billion would be a high base for FY23, an export growth of 30-35% on such numbers would be difficult, particularly as additional exports may require augmenting the capacity as well, FIEO said in a statement.

Looking into the emergence of the new variants (of Covid-19) and supply side challenges at this point of time, we would like to be a little conservative and will aim for an export of $460-475 billion during the next fiscal,” said FIEO president A Sakthivel.

Much will depend on the containment of Covid-19 through massive vaccination across the globe and creation of required capacity, which would decide whether India should look for 15-20% growth or even more for the next financial year.

India’s exports in the first three weeks of December rose 36.20% on-year at $23.82 billion. Outbound shipments were 27.7% higher than the same period of 2019-20, sources said.

Export excluding petroleum, oil and lubricants increased 28.08% over the corresponding period last year.

In the third week of December, exports rose 20.83% on-year at $7.36 billion. Export excluding petroleum increased 24.56% over same period of FY21 and up by 29.25% over same period of FY20.

India aims to clock $400 billion of goods exports in FY22, a growth of 37.6% from $290.6 billion.

However, the country’s top exporters body has said that exports growth may slow to 15-17.5% in FY23 but containment of Covid-19 through massive vaccination across the globe and creation of required capacity will be the decisive factors.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations said that FY22 is expected to end with merchandise exports of $400 billion but the aim for the next fiscal is $460-475 billion.