Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today called upon exporters to explore newer markets to give a fillip to exports and to maintain the economic momentum.

Presenting Export Excellence Awards for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units & Export Oriented Units (EOUs) in Chennai, he congratulated the award winners and said the SEZs and the EOUs contribute about one-third of the country’s exports.

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Terming SEZs as an ideal platform for promoting ‘Make in India’, ‘Local goes Global’, and ‘Ease of Doing Business’, he said the country’s exports have grown manifold in recent years due to the hard work of the exporters.

Naidu noted that there was a record achievement of 418 billion US dollars of merchandise exports in the just-concluded 2021-22 financial year. Besides, the services exports were about 250 billion US dollars. This was a remarkable achievement in spite of the pandemic, he said.

Calling for continuing the trend, the Vice President said the ambitious project of ‘District Export Hub’ announced by the Government of India in 2019 is expected to boost exports. Most of the 775 districts across the country have the potential of becoming export hubs, he said.

Stating that the government was taking all steps to further increase exports through business and industry-friendly policies, ease of doing business, and focusing on ‘local for global’, Naidu noted that GI (Geographical Indication) products were being given a fillip in this endeavour.

Pointing out that India is a young nation, he stressed the need to fully realize the potential of the demographic dividend. Calling for a special drive to provide employment to youth and equip them with necessary skills, he said “unless this is done, our demographic advantage might turn into a major disadvantage.”

Praising Tamil Nadu’s highly developed industrial manufacturing ecosystem, Naidu said the state has evolved into the largest hub for the production of automobiles and auto components, textiles, leather products, light and heavy engineering, pumps, and motors, electronic software, and hardware. The State continues to be a national leader in exports, he added.

It was heartening to know that about five lakh people were employed directly by the SEZs and EOUs in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry so far, in addition to the lakhs of indirect employment generated by them, the Vice President said.

Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Anupriya Singh Patel; Tamil Nadu Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management K K S S R Ramachandran; and Development Commissioner, Madras Export Processing Zone SEZ M K Shanmuga Sundaram, were present on the occasion.