Speaking at the award presentation function of the Engineering Export Promotion Council, western region, Desai said the scope for increasing Indian exports to the top 24 markets, including US, Japan, Germany, UK, Hong Kong, UAE, Belgium, Italy, Russia and Singapore during the current year appeared to be limited.

India's exports to Japan, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Russia declined in 1996-97 and in 1997-98, besides Japan and Germany, Indian exports to UK and Singapore also registered negative growth. Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia are likely to register negative growth in gross domestic products (GDP) in 1998 and hence the scope for increasing exports to these countries were limited.

He said Indian exporters must look beyond these markets to diversify export destinationsin new markets in Latin America, South Africa, and other countries in southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Confederation of Independent States (CIS) and specific countries such as Israel and Turkey. He said also emphasised the need for diversifying India's export basket with focus on items which account for larger share in world exports, which are fast moving in world trade and originate from developing countries. This would help India improve its share in world exports. He said quoting a study on consumer electronics by Exim Bank, that black and white TV sets, CTV sets and low and medium technology audio products were the high potential items.