Is reviewing the textile export target enough?

Just a couple of days back Union Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela had hinted at the government's plan to review the target of $ 50 billion exports by 2010-11 for textiles, in the wake of rupee appreciation and global economic slowdown impacting the sector's growth.

However it's anybody's guess whether reviewing the export target is enough; it most certainly is not. Market trends suggest that the rupee most likely will remain volatile in the months to come. So do we review the targets again and again?

There has to be a long-term solution to this. Cutting transaction costs, reducing procedural delays, and improving the infrastructure on a war-footing will help. Exporters need to cut flab and streamline operations. Cutting on the production costs will mean they can sell goods at more competitive prices.

However, being cost-effective is just half the battle won. Exporters today need to focus on what customers need. To succeed, a flexible and dynamic approach to markets is what will enable exporters get over cyclical turns in currency values. They need to update themselves on the requirements of their customers, and also on what their competitors are doing.

India must export what the world needs, not simply what it cares to produce. As Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, had pointed out once, "What's the use of producing cost-effective khadi if the world does not want it?"

Yes, lowering export targets and achieving them will give us a false satisfaction, but is that what we want? Let's leave targets for the babus. Come what may, exporters need to take the market realities head on - after all it's about business and profits…targets are always secondary.

Monthly Economic & Commercial Report on Tunisia for March 2008 giving latest updates on developments directly affecting India's foreign trade and investment. Read More...