Gujarat’s exports from SEZs surge 20% in May

AHMEDABAD: The cumulative exports from Gujarat’s functional special economic zones (SEZs) surged 20% to Rs 18,441 crore in May this year from Rs 15,418 crore in the preceding month of April, according to government data.
Increase in exports of petroleum, pharmaceutical and chemical products pushed up the overall exports from the 20 SEZs operational within the state.
The exports from Reliance SEZ increased by 36% from Rs 10,203 crore in April to 13,869 crore in May.During the same period, Zydus SEZ, which is a pharmaceutical SEZ, saw its exports grow from Rs 396 crore to Rs 443 crore, while Dahej SEZ’s exports moved up from Rs 585 crore to Rs 757 crore.
However, exports from GIFT and TCS SEZs located in Gandhinagar as well as Surat SEZ in Surat and Sterling SEZ in Bharuch witnessed a declined in May on month-on-month basis, the government data further showed.
On year-on-year basis, the cumulative exports jumped 143% due to low-base effect as the exports remained muted at Rs 7,594 crore in May last year due to lockdown-induced disruptions.
“Several countries such as the US and Dubai have opened up their markets for exports. The demand from such overseas markets pushed up overall SEZ exports in May. Most SEZs in Gujarat are geared up to meet this growing demand,” said sources aware of the matter. “There has also been a diversion of orders, especially in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other sectors, from China to India as well,” said sources.
According to sources, many industrial units in SEZs have aligned themselves with the demand in the international market. Most of them have the flexibility of adapting to the international demand.
SEZ are also working hard to make up for the losses incurred in last financial year due to the pandemic and the industrial units in these SEZs are capturing all the possible opportunities in the export market to cover the last year’s losses.
For entire 2020-21, the cumulative exports — both merchandise and services — from the functional SEZs in Gujarat plummeted to Rs 1.27 lakh crore from Rs 1.57 crore in 2019-20.