India sees increased opportunities to replace China on global export market

Indian exporters could push supplies on the global market to fill gaps left by neighboring China due to the coronavirus outbreak, said the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham).

According to Assocham, Indian exporters of electronics, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals and automobile parts depend on China for raw material. They are currently facing supply constraints due to the Chinese economy being hit by the coronavirus outbreak.

However, there are several areas with increased opportunities for domestic traders, it said.

"Barring a few [products], a large number of engineering exports from India can fill up the market vacated by China; so is the case with products like leather and leather goods," Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said, as quoted by the Financial Express.

According to Sood, India could also take advantage of opportunities in areas like agriculture and carpets. "We also need to scale up several of our sectors to compete effectively with China even when the Chinese exporters are able to normalize their global supply chain," Sood said.

Assocham cited the latest China PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) data, which shows that the country’s factory output level plummeted in February to its lowest in almost two decades, with the consequences bound to be felt in the global market.

"While India's merchandise exports have contracted by 1.93 percent [during the] April-January period of the current fiscal, the coming few months can provide our exporters greater market access in the absence of usually aggressive and competitive Chinese suppliers," the industry body said.

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