Exports cross 418 billion dollar mark, India to fill wheat granaries depleted by Ukraine war

New Delhi: Indian exports for the financial year 2021-22 has crossed 418 billion dollars, said the Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

He termed it an important milestone in the journey towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and maintained that the country’s goods exports have now crossed the 418 billion US dollar mark.

On achieving historic export figures for the financial year 2021-22, Mr Goyal said, “It is an important milestone in the journey towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat and perhaps more importantly every sector of the economy, farmer, entrepreneur, MSME, and state governments worked together to achieve this goal.”

The Minister said the export of wheat in 2019-20, which was only two lakh tonnes, had increased to 21.55 lakh tonnes in 2020-21. Goyal said India would continue to export wheat in a big way to meet the needs of countries that are not getting supplies from conflict areas.

Russia and Ukraine account for about 25 per cent of the world’s wheat exports. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted the global market.

Notably, India is the second-largest wheat producer after China and is now looking for increased exports to cash in on the higher price of wheat in the international market.

The Minister also said that exports had exceeded 40 billion dollars in March alone, which has created the history of the highest exports in a month.

The Union Minister said that India had truly gone from local to global in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call. He expressed confidence that India’s economy is poised to break several records.

Mr Goyal said Government is now working on rolling out the District Export Hub Initiative to strengthen the export infrastructure.

He further said India’s diversified export portfolio in 2021-22 shows India’s manufacturing abilities and growth in hi-tech goods, electronics, and agricultural products.