India's exports are likely to reach the $500 billion in the next five years but the focus should be on the labour-oriented sectors so that benefits of growth trickle down to the low-income groups, industry body CII has said.
In a sectoral analysis of exports, the Confederation of Indian Industries said India needs to become among the top three exporters in the world in four sectors -- textile, leather, gems and jewellery and engineering.
It said exports to new markets of Latin America and Caribbean and Africa should be given a push for achieving the $500 billion by 2013.
The four labour-oriented sectors account for over 50 per cent of India's export basket and they need to be given momentum, the chamber said.
"There is a need for a combination of policy initiatives, technology infusion, infrastructure improvement, access to newer markets, innovation in product development and improvement in scale of production," CII said.
Exports for the fiscal year 2007-08 are expected to be between $155 billion and $160 billion compared to $126 billion in 2006-07. The foreign trade policy (2004-09) expects exports to reach $200 billion in the current fiscal.
While diversification has already been achieved in the country's export destinations in recent years, the chamber called for a strategic push in two big markets of Africa and LAC countries.
At present, India meets only 3.5 per cent of Africa's import demand and 0.7 per cent of import demand of LAC nations.
"These shares can easily be doubled with minimum efforts in the next two to three years," CII said.
