Global demand revival: How is India poised?
global demand remained comparatively muted in 2023 on account of lower consumer consumption and rising inflation in the main markets of Europe and the US. As a result, India’s merchandise exports also took a hit. However, experts now see a gradual revival in global demand because of the 11.86% year-on-year export growth (to $41.4 billion) in February 2024.
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While industrial products such as engineering goods, petroleum products, drugs, electronic goods managed to hold ground or increase exports during the slowdown, consumer-facing segments such as garments, gems and jewelry, handloom products saw a reduction, says Anubhav Kathuria, Director, Synergy Steels.
“In macro terms, we see inflation cooling down to preferable levels in Europe. Therefore, one may expect an increase in prospects for consumer-focused merchandise producers in India. The stainless steel industry also witnessed the impact of the global macroeconomic developments, and we are looking at the year ahead with cautious optimism,” adds Kathuria.
Aruna Sharma, Former Secretary, Ministry of Steel, says a demand revival would also provide an opportunity to small businesses to generate employment. “India contributes around 16% of global growth and is having a consistent growth rate of around 6-8% in the quarters of last year. There were challenges and savings had shown a decrease. But now the demand for FMCG goods is slowly reviving. Thus, revival of the global economy will be an opportunity for MSMEs and they will get
