Export

Budget hope for exports
R. SURYAMURTHY

New Delhi, Jan. 22: The budget is expected to provide relief to labour-intensive export units as the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar has forced them to retrench a large number of workers.

Officials said the country was unlikely to meet the export target of $160 billion for the fiscal and would fall short by about $10 billion. For the April-November period of 2007-08, exports grew 22.08 per cent to $98.38 billion against $80.59 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

They said the recently constituted high-powered group under V. Krishnamurthy, the chairman of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, could suggest steps to boost export.