New Delhi: India’s engineering goods exports registered a stupendous growth of 54 per cent and jumped to US $ 81.8 billion during April-December 2021 as compared to US $ 52.9 billion during the same period in the previous year, said the Union Ministry of Industry and Commerce on Monday.

With the sector already logging USD 81.8 billion in the first three quarters of FY 2021-22, the sector is set to significantly surpass USD 76.62 billion overall exports in the last financial year despite Covid-19 pandemic.

The overall exports of engineering goods in the last financial year (March 2020-April, 2021) was US $ 76.62 billion, and with the sector already logging US $ 81.8 billion in the first three quarters of FY 2021-22, the sector is set to scale further record highs despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic since January 2020, said the Ministry.

India’s top five export destinations for the engineering goods sector in April-November 2021 (as per the latest available data, share per cent mentioned in bracket) are USA (14.7 pc), China (5.8 pc), UAE (5.1 pc), Italy (4 pc) and Germany (3.4 pc).

The impressive growth in engineering goods exports in recent years has largely been due to the zero duty export promotion capital goods (EPCG) scheme of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and forms part of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) of the Government of India.

The present policy which came into force on April 1, 2015, was for five years with validity up to March 31, 2020. In order to provide policy stability during the pandemic period, FTP 2015-20 was extended for the year 2021-22, that is, up to March 31, 2022.

The engineering goods sector comprises metal products, industrial machinery and equipment, automobiles and its components, transport equipment, bicycles, medical devices and renewable equipment. /BI/