Southern states are also aggressively pursing projects said Nirmala Sitarman, union commerce and industry minister.

Chennai: Textiles is one of the exports from the country that has registered a growth. In fact, textiles joins few other sectors that have arrested the slide in exports and have shown growth. In all, so far, 12 sectors are on the upswing, said union commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitaraman.

Addressing the regional editors conference here in Chennai, the union minister noted with happiness that tea, tobacco, spices, fruits & vegetables, cereal preparations, ceramic products, drugs, glassware, textiles and few others recorded growth in value terms.

During the last fiscal, exports from India were worth $262.30 billion , which in itself is a drop of 15 per cent over the previous year.

But the recent data shows reasons for cheer she said, citing the example of spices.

Sitaraman said India is the largest producer, exporter and consumer of spices in the World, during 2015-16 the export of spices & spice products from the country was 8,43,255 tons valued Rs.16238.23 crore. In the case of export of cardamom (small) there is an all time achievement of 5500 tons valued Rs.450 crores during 2015-16.

Commerce Minister said annual tea production is 1233 million kgs. against the target of 1195 million kgs., which is an all-time record. She said in India, coffee is cultivated in about 4.34 lakh hectares mainly confined to southern states viz., Karnataka (54.20%), Kerala (19.7%) and Tamil Nadu (8.0%), which form traditional coffee tracts. She said During the last 4 years, more than one lakh small growers have benefitted under the Board’s development schemes and this has helped in achieving an all-time record crop production of 3.5 lakh MT in 2015-16, the welfare measures of Coffee Board have supported about 38,000 children of labourers and tiny growers with education stipends and merit incentives, during the last 4 years. In the Rubber Sector Southern states account for 44% of NR consumption in the country indicating the extent of rubber based industrialization. Major tyre companies have factories in the Southern States and there are many MSMEs in general rubber goods sector manufacturing a range of rubber products.

Central government efforts, including diversification of export product basket, diversification into non-traditional markets and conclusion of ongoing free trade agreements (FTA) negotiations and initiating new FTAs for promotion of exports, were showing fruits, she said.

This sentiment is also reflected in manufacturing sector, the minister said adding that the manufacturing sector grew at 9.3 per cent in 2015-16, which is much higher than the fiver per cent to six per cent recorded during the past three fiscal years.

India is also showing progress on the ease of doing business front, Sitaraman told the regional editors. A 340 point action plan has been shared with all the state governments for implementation. The union ministry has also conducted workshops in states.

Southern states are taking advantage of the situation prevailing in the country and are aggressively pursuing projects with the centre. Sitaraman said, four new projects have been set up in Tamil Nadu under ASIDE, one Project has been approved in Kerala and two Projects were approved in Karnataka and two projects in Andhra Pradesh.

Commerce Minister said that the Ministry was looking into diversification of export product basket, diversification into non-traditional markets and conclusion of ongoing FTA negotiations and initiating new FTAs for promotion of exports.

Talking about Industry, Minister said Manufacturing sector grew at 9.3% in 2015-16, much higher than the 5-6% growth in previous 3 financial year and was the major contributor to the healthy 7.6% growth of GDP in 2015-16.

On Startup India, the minister said Legal support & fast-tracking patent examination at lower costs has been provided she said for relaxed norms of public procurement for Startups and faster Exit for Startups the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act 2016 has been enacted. She said Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) & Self Employment &Talent Utilization Program (SETU) have been launched for promotion of Innovation Hubs.

The Minister said a Logistics Data Services Project, implemented by Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) has been launched to integrate information with various agencies across supply chain to provide detailed real time information in a single window at JNPT Port, Mumbai.

On the ease of doing business Minister said, 340 point Action Plan has been shared with all States for implementation, Workshops were conducted in States on request and Online dashboard for reporting and Evaluation is an ongoing process.