HYDERABAD: If the West Asian conflict continues, India’s exports to other parts of the world will also be affected, Central Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Saturday.
Indian exports during the last financial year were expected to remain on a positive trajectory despite the crisis, he added.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of ‘Chintan Shivir – Growth in Farm Exports’, Agrawal said that due to the West Asian crisis, last month definitely had an impact on both imports and exports as energy is a major part of the Indian import market.
“West Asia is also an important market. About 12-13 percent of our exports go to the region. So this will be directly affected. And if it continues for a long time, maybe our exports to other parts of the world will also be affected as some of the value chains will go back. We are aware of that,” the official told reporters.
Answering a question, he said the exact impact of the West Asian crisis on Indian exports will be known in two weeks.
He said the Center is trying to see that supply chains have minimal impact as much as possible, although the government is ready for some figures to go down, both in terms of exports and imports.
“And I assume that it will not only be a one-way traffic, in terms of the export decline, but it will also be the import that will have a decline,” he said.
He further said that even if the war ends, the impact of the crisis will be there for months or years to come, depending on which supply chain or which infrastructure is affected.
“So at this point, it’s going to be very difficult to take a very long-term view of it,” the official said.
