Lucknow: The latest Exim Bank report on the sports goods industry said India had an untapped export potential of $ 227.4 million and although 60% of industrial output marked for exports, its part in the export of national merchandise was very low – 0.09% in 2019 -20.
Every progress in this sector will be very important for Uttar Pradesh as Meerut along with Jalandhar in Punjab accounts for 70% of sports production in this country.
The report was launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lucknow recently, said clusters such as Meerut would “form the foundation in realizing the vision of a strong sports goods sector and ‘Atma Nirbhar’ in the country”.
In 2017-18, UP contributed 40.1% of India’s production with a value of Rs 2,355.98 Crore, both only after Punjab.
Meerut is known by manufacturing cricket and boxing equipment, badminton rackets, athletics and gym equipment, swimwear, rubber balls, hockey, table tennis equipment and skating equipment.
“India currently produces more than 300 types of sports goods and is one of the largest producers in Asia, after China and Japan.
The value of sporting goods production is pegged at Rs 2,380.7 Crore in 2018-19.
However, the production is concentrated on two clusters of meerut and Jalandhar, which produces almost two-third of the total sporting goods in this country.
The industry is intensely oriented and export-oriented, “the report said, added that compared to the global market size, export value was also low.
“India is the largest exporter of the 24 sporting goods in the world in 2019, contributing 0.56 percent of the exports of global sporting goods for a year,” he added.
This industry was greatly affected by the pandemic and during locking in April last year, there was a year-to-year decline of 86.3%.
“The analysis shows the top global importers in some of the main sports goods categories not among the main objectives of Indian exports.
Targeting exports to the top import market in each product category identified will be important to improve the global market of the Indian market,” Recommended Reports.
This adds to the growing economy with high demand for sporting goods, such as Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, Nigeria, Peru and Ecuador can also be targeted at market diversification.
This report shows dependence on imports of sports goods from China.
It citizes the findings by the Directorate General of Commercial and Statistics Intelligence (DGCIS) at the dependence of excessive Indian imports in partner countries, especially China, for sporting goods.
“Analysis in DGCIS studies shows China offers good sports for India with a relatively cheaper unit level, when compared to other countries.
There is a need to consider increasing import tariffs on sporting goods from China.
However, this will require a careful examination Against demand and supply side factors to ensure that tariff increases do not prove to harm industries or domestic consumers, “said the report.