Moving from $18 billion to $312 billion, FIEO honours outstanding exporters

14th Set of FIEO Niryat Shree and NiryatBandhu Awards was presented by Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at VigyanBhawan, New Delhi. The set of awards given this time was to 50 outstanding exporters, Service Providers, Best performing banks and export promotion organizations, contributing maximum foreign exchange to the country’s Forex reserves.

The two categories of prestigious awards “Niryat Shree” and “NiryatBandhu” were instituted in 1995-96 for recognizing the contributions of exporters and other agencies engaged in export promotion. “Niryat Shree” is awarded to member exporters for achieving outstanding performance in export of goods and services and “NiryatBandhu” is given away to organizations helping exporters in achieving higher growth such as export promotion councils; commodity boards; export development authorities; banks and other agencies. Besides these FIEO also constituted a new set of E-commerce award category this time.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India congratulated the award winners for helping the country in diversifying its exports and moving away from advance economies of US, EU and Japan to untapped markets of Africa, Latin America and CIS countries. President of India asked exporters to maintain the requisite qualities and standards and maintain complete transparency in dealing with foreign buyers. He also underlined the importance of exports for showcasing the strength and prowess of Indian manufacturing sector. Shri Mukherjee gave a detailed account of evolution of Indian exports which has moved from USD 18 billion in 1991-92 to USD 312 billion in 2013-14. He urged the young entrepreneurs to enter the challenging field of exports and look for global market for pushing their production.

In his speech, FIEO President,Mr M Rafeeque Ahmed said that exports play a pivotal role in Indian Economy and combined share of Merchandise and Services imports and exports together account for over 50 percent of country’s GDP. The award winners have demonstrated that tough market conditions can be overcome through better marketing strategy and moving up the value chain. MrRafeeque Ahmed asked exporters to look for branding of their products to increase per unit realization and make India a quality supplier of goods and services.