Odisha recognised as 'Champion State' for exports

This was announced during a review meeting of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on the export performance of states and formulation of strategy attended by L N Gupta, MSME Additional Chief Secretary, Odisha.

The exports from the state have increased from Rs 19,082 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 40,872 crore in 2016-17 with merchandise exports from Odisha registering the highest growth rate of 114 per cent among all the states, Gupta said.

Between 2012-13 and 2016-17, in terms of USD, shipments from the state witnessed a positive growth of 17.60 per cent against the negative growth of 2.07 per cent in overall exports of India, he said.

During the same period, in terms of Rupee, a positive growth of 23.84 per cent was recorded by exports from Odisha against a positive growth of 3.18 per cent in overall exports of India.

Growth of exports has direct positive impact on enhancement of employment and livelihood opportunity, Gupta said.

The major sectors of exports in Odisha are aluminum, products of aluminum, iron ore, processed minerals, iron, steel, marine products, residual chemical and allied products, textiles and IT and ITES.

Of late, engineering, handicrafts, tourism, silver filigree and rubber are emerging as new items of exports, he said.

As per the Revealed Competitive Advantage (RCA) done by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), four categories of export items have emerged as ‘items of prime importance’ for the state having a competitive advantage vis-à-vis the other Indian states and world exports.

The items are iron, mineral metals, chemicals and marine products.

As part of the new export strategy, the state is going to enhance its focus on exports of pharma, plastic, spices, cereals and organic farm items, he said.

Records said that the export turnover of the state was merely Rs 563 crore in 2001-02. It rose by 15 times to Rs 8917 crore in 2005-07 and since 2008-09, the value of exports from Odisha has been gradually rising.

The export turnover, which was Rs 15,411 crore in 2008-09, has now risen to a level of Rs 40,879 crore in 2016-17, registering an increase of 165 per cent in the last 9 years, Gupta said.

With commencement of exports from Multi Model Logistic Parks (MMLP) at Jharsuguda, Inland Container Depot (ICD), Balasore and Port-side Container Terminal (PSCT) at Paradip, the progress of which is being monitored by the state on regular basis, exports will get further boost.

To help the exporters maintain the standard and quality of export items, both Export Inspection Agency (EIA) and MPEDA are being pursued to commence commercial operations of their laboratories (under progress) at Bhubaneswar before March, 2018, Gupta said.