LUCKNOW: The latest EXIM Bank report on sports goods industry says India has an untapped export potential of $227.4 million and though 60% industry output is marked for export, its share in national merchandise exports is extremely low — 0.09% in 2019-20.
Any advancement in the sector will be crucial for Uttar Pradesh as Meerut along with Jalandhar in Punjab account for 70% of sports production in the country.
The report launched by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lucknow recently, says clusters like Meerut will “form the cornerstone in realizing the vision of a strong and ‘atma nirbhar’ sports goods sector in the country”. In 2017-18, UP accounted for 40.1% of India’s production with a value of Rs 2,355.98 crore, second only after Punjab. Meerut is known for manufacturing cricket and boxing equipment, badminton racquets, athletics and gymnastic equipment, swimwear, inflatable balls, hockey, table tennis equipment and skating equipment.
“India currently manufactures more than 300 types of sports goods and is one of the largest manufacturers in Asia, after China and Japan. The value of production of sports goods was pegged at Rs 2,380.7 crore in 2018-19. However, production is concentrated in two clusters Meerut and Jalandhar, which produce nearly two-third of the total sports goods in the country.
The industry is labour intensive and export oriented,” the report says, adding when compared to the global market size, the value of exports is also low. “India was the 24th largest exporter of sports goods in the world in 2019, accounting for 0.56 percent of global exports of sports goods during the year,” it adds.
The industry was severely impacted by the pandemic and during the lockdown in April last year, there was a year-on-year decline of 86.3%.
“Analysis indicates top global importers across several key sports goods categories are not among India’s key export destinations. Targeting exports to top importing markets in each identified product category would be important to enhance India’s market global share,” the report recommends. It adds that developing economies with high demand for sports goods, like Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, Nigeria, Peru and Ecuador could also be targeted for market diversification.
The report points to an increasing dependence on imports of sports goods from China. It quotes findings by Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) on India’s excessive import dependence on partner countries, especially China, for sports goods. “Analysis in the DGCIS study indicates China offers sports good to India at relatively cheaper unit rates, when compared to other countries. There is a need to consider increasing import tariff on sports goods from China. This would, however, entail a careful examination of demand and supply side factors to ensure that a tariff hike does not prove detrimental to the domestic industry or consumers,” the report says.
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