India’s export strategy is entering a critical inflection point, with a new report by Forvis Mazars India emphasising the need for a decisive shift toward high-value, technology-intensive manufacturing.

The consulting firm warns that relying solely on GDP growth to drive export expansion will leave the economy vulnerable to global demand shocks, particularly in the face of weakening consumption in advanced economies, rising protectionism, and fragmentation of global supply chains.

The report, supported by commentary from Rohit Chaturvedi, Partner – Transport and Logistics, underscores that resilience in merchandise exports requires deeper integration into advanced global value chains (GVCs).

Policy measures must be tailored to incentivise capital-intensive and technology-driven sectors while fostering innovation, productivity gains, and supply chain sophistication. Chaturvedi highlighted that this transformation cannot happen without parallel investment in enabling logistics infrastructure to reduce bottlenecks and enhance competitiveness.

India has set ambitious targets, aiming for USD 1 trillion in merchandise exports by 2030, with total exports of goods and services projected to exceed USD 2 trillion. This scale-up makes export strategy a core pillar of national growth planning.

Exports today are expected to serve not merely as outlets for surplus production, but as tools for attracting foreign investment, accelerating industrial upgrading, and sustaining long-term GDP growth through deeper global integration.

Over the past two decades, India’s merchandise exports have evolved significantly, shifting from low-value primary commodities toward a diversified mix dominated by high-value manufacturing and technology-intensive products.

Between FY18 and FY25, engineering goods, petroleum products, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, and chemicals together comprised nearly 70 per cent of India’s merchandise export value.

Electronics have emerged as the fastest-growing category, expanding fivefold to USD 38.5 billion during this period. Their share in total merchandise exports rose sharply from 2 per cent to 9 per cent, driven by mobile phone assembly, semiconductor fabrication initiatives, and export-led growth in consumer and industrial electronics. This reflects India’s increasing presence in technologically sophisticated export markets.

Engineering goods continue to dominate export earnings, bolstered by strong demand for capital goods, automotive components, and industrial machinery. These segments benefit from both expanding domestic manufacturing capacity and integration into diversified global supply chains catering to infrastructure, transport, and industrial projects.

In contrast, traditional exports such as textiles have gradually lost global market share, illustrating the steady pivot from labour-intensive sectors to more knowledge- and tech-driven products.

The report concludes that India’s path to sustaining and expanding export growth hinges on a dual approach—policy-driven industrial transformation toward higher technological content and strategic investments in supporting infrastructure. Without such measures, the country risks missing its long-term export targets and facing heightened exposure to the volatility of global trade cycles.

Based On ANI Report