Business Across Borders 2022

3 Dun & Bradstreet is delighted to publish its second edition of ‘Business Across Borders’ , which is a compendium of information on leading Indian exporters across industries. The idea for this report arose in 2021, with the goal of highlighting the critical role that exports play in our country’s development and the enormous potential that the sector possesses. Since the economic reforms of the 1990s, exports, along with human resources, investment, and governance, have been the four main pillars of India’s economic growth. For an emerging market like India, that aims to become a $5 trillion economy in the near future, it is imperative to adopt an export-oriented approach that boosts foreign exchange, optimizes the balance of payments, expands markets and leverages comparative advantages. Recently, international trade has faced difficult times, following a Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical issues, and volatile commodity prices. Consequently, India’s merchandise exports decreased by around 7% in FY21 to US$ 291.8 bn from US$ 313.4 bn in FY20. Despite the initial setbacks, merchandise exports rebounded in December 2020, and are expected to continue their positive trend this year as well. The service sector has also proven to be highly resilient and has contributed significantly to the country’s economic growth. According to the World Trade Organization, India will be the seventh largest exporter of commercial services in 2020, accounting for 4.1% of the world’s total exports of commercial services. Keeping in mind the government’s call for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the changing global economic landscape provides India with an ideal opportunity to reconfigure its value chains and become a global manufacturing hub. To achieve this goal, the sector must eliminate inherent bottlenecks and become globally competitive. India has great potential to transform its supply chain and become a viable alternative supplier to the world. In this regard, the government has already taken proactive steps to become a prominent player in the international trade landscape, including strategic policy interventions, infrastructure development, technology and innovation investments, and ease of doing business. While these actions are in the right direction, we still need to do much more to recalibrate policies in line with prevailing global scenarios to capitalize on new opportunities. We hope that our detailed analysis and insights outlined in the ‘Business Across Borders 2022’ publication will serve as a useful source of information for all stakeholders in their efforts to strengthen the country’s export ecosystem and increase India’s share of global trade. We look forward to your valuable feedback and suggestions. Foreword Preeta Misra Senior Director Credibility & Business Insights Group (CBIG) & Learning & Economic Insights Group (LEIG) Dun & Bradstreet Dun & Bradstreet