Engineering goods exports may decline next fiscal

New Delhi: Engineering goods exports may decline in 2009-10 as demand from the US and EU, reeling under economic slowdown, have dried up, while the EEPC has warned of four lakh layoffs in the coming months.

Engineering goods exports witnessed a growth rate of over 40 per cent in the first half of the fiscal over the same period last year to $22.12 billion .

But from November, exporters started feeling the pinch of slowdown in the economies of the US and Europe, which account for over 60 per cent of the sector's exports. “Given the current global economic situation, exports in 2009-10 are likely to dip about 15 per cent from the estimated $40 billion for the current fiscal,” Engineering Exports Promotion Council Chairman Aman Chadha said.

As per the EEPC's sample survey of about 35 engineering enterprises, about 2,000 people lost jobs between August and January 2008-09. “The study has revealed that close to 10 per cent, that is about 400,000 people, would lose their jobs by the end of 200 9,” Chadha said.

Source: http://sify.com/