The commerce and industry ministry will release the final trade numbers for March and FY26 on April 15.
The war has disrupted India’s exports to West Asia, pushed up shipping freight, air transport prices and insurance costs.
Goods exports fell 0.81% on-year to $36.61 billion in February.
“Exports are expected to record a fall of 2-3% last fiscal and 7-8% in March,” Ralhan said, adding that prices of raw materials such as steel, plastic and rubber have increased.
He suggested that the government should look into issues such as high interest rates, simplification of advance authorisation redemption, and harmonisation of nomenclature between the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and customs.
There are also issues related to refund of integrated goods and services tax (IGST) when shipping lines delay filing the Export General Manifest (EGM) with customs to confirm that the goods have physically left India.Advance Authorization Redemption is a term used in India’s foreign trade policy (FTP). It is the process of closing or fulfilling an advance authorization licence after meeting its export obligation.
Advance authorization allows exporters to import raw materials duty-free on the condition that they will use those inputs to manufacture export products.
“We need a rate of interest at par with international standards, which is 2-4 per cent. In India, it is about 8.25 per cent after subsidy and without collaterals, it goes to about 12 per cent,” Ralhan said.
He added that it would take a few months for exports to stabilise from the West Asia crisis.
“March first week there was some weakness but it turned positive in second week and by end March ,we will maintain our exports,” commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said in Parliament last month.
(The correspondent is in Ludhiana at the invitation of FIEO)