Beyond jewellery and textiles: India’s export basket undergoes a cultural shift

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Mint. “Growth in the traditional basket of exports (comprising agriculture and allied products, gems and jewellery, and textiles) declined on the other hand." Also read | India's electronics, pharma, engineering goods exports beat global trade blues Exports of electronic goods, which primarily involve their final assembly, surged nearly fivefold in value terms to $29 billion in 2023-24 from the level seen in 2017-18, show data available with India’s commerce ministry. Exports of engineering goods increased from $78.65 billion in value terms in FY18 to $109.22 billion in FY24, while that of drugs and pharmaceutical products climbed from $17.27 billion to $27.82 billion in that period.

“Indian exports are undergoing structural changes," said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative. “We are losing competitiveness in traditional export products like gems and jewellery, textiles and garments, leather footwear, and marine products. (But) in new sectors like electronics we are doing well." “Gradually, we should hope to increase value addition in new sectors," he said.

The share of engineering goods, the largest segment in India’s export basket, has remained range-bound despite global supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic and geopolitical factors. If a longer time period of a decade is considered, the share of engineering goods has staged a strong performance—building up from 18.8% in FY13 to 25.21% in FY24. It was at 26.17% in FY18.