India's plastics export poised to cross USD 8 bn mark in FY18

Mumbai, Dec 24 (PTI) The Plastics Export PromotionCouncil (PLEXCONCIL) is confident that India's plasticsexports will cross USD 8 billion mark due to the positivegrowth trend."The current trend in India's plastic exports seemshighly encouraging and we are confident of crossing plasticsexports to cross USD 8 billion mark in FY18 showing a 6 percent increase from USD 7.56 billion in FY17. India's plasticexports to United States, the largest destination, continuesto tread higher and nearing the coveted USD 1 billion mark,"PLEXCONCIL chairman Pradip Thakkar told reporters here.During the first half of FY18, cumulative value ofIndia's plastics exports witnessed a positive growth of around9.5 per cent amounting to USD 3.49 billion as against USD 3.19billion during the same period last year."We are working with the government on a strategy inorder to increase the country's plastic exports as the globalexport market for plastics of USD 800 billion presents a hugeopportunity.The Council has taken up all important issues post theGST-era, with the concerned Ministry for remedial action interms of fast tracking of IGST refunds; exemption of merchantexporters from GST on procurement against bond, clearprocedure for third party exports under the GST regime; usingof Chapter 3 incentive scheme scrips & advance authorizationfor debit of full import duty and restoring of export benefitsto export oriented units," Thakkar said.During September 2017, India exported plastics worthUSD 630.93 million, up 17.3 per cent from USD 538.01 millionin September 2016. The country exported plastics to 185countries in September 2017. United States, China and Italywere the top three buyers of plastics from India.To increase its global footprint, the industry hasadded countries like Sao Tomé, Belize, Samoa, FrenchPolynesia, Guadeloupe, South Sudan, Micronesia, Lao People'sDemocratic Republic, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Grenada.Plastics exports to these countries were valued at USD 0.18million in September 2017.The country's plastics industry also offers immensepotential in terms of capacity, infrastructure and skilledmanpower. India is currently ranked among the top fiveconsumers of polymers in the world and has 30,000 plus plasticprocessing units employing over four million people across thecountry. Plastics are among the fastest-growing industries inthe country experiencing a double digit growth rate on anaverage.At this juncture, it is important to reiterate thatthe Indian plastics industry is dominated by the MSME sectorparticularly the SSI, which urgently require governmentsupport in the form of Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme(TUFS) in order to replace their obsolete machineries.However, due to the fragmented nature of the plastics industry, slower adaptation to newer technologies, and other restraining factors, the industry has not been able to increase its share in the global export market for plastics, Thakkar said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)