The commerce and industry minister, Kamal Nath who is likely to announce the export target is set an ambitious 20 percent export growth target for 2007-08. The sector expects the growth rate to halve to 10 percent this year against the earlier estimate of 20 percent in 2006-07 to 20 billion, as the textiles and textile products (including handicrafts) account for a little less than a fifth of domestic exports. The secretary general of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), DK Nair said that the slowdown in the US market (which buys 35 percent of India’s textile exports) and a strengthening of the rupee would adversely hurt the sector. The high interest rates and an expensive rupee are expected to hold back export-intensive sectors from reaching the stiff targets they are setting for themselves in step with the commerce and industry ministry’s ambition of touching the $150 billion mark in merchandise exports in 2007-08. Source: Bharattextiles.com

Date:4/19/2007

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