"We hope to finalise at least two joint ventures, one in the Gulf and another in Europe in next few months for establishing permanent marketing outlets," MMTC chairman and managing director S D Kapoor said.

Kapoor said the corporation was already holding negotiations with prospective partner. He added that the finer aspects of equity holding and investments were yet to be worked out.Stating that the joint ventures were part of the corporation's initiative to achieve a 40 per cent growth in exports at Rs 1,500 crore during the current fiscal, he said about 50 per cent of the export turnover would be from jewellery and agri product exports.

Kapoor said MMTC would also use the joint ventures to source gold and other metals to meet India's import requirements. Bullion import by MMTC had touched an all-timerecord of 450 tonnes including 50 tonnes of gold valued at $ 600 million.

MMTC had registered a seven per cent decline in exports at Rs 1,100 crore during the current year due to fall in trade margins and depressed global demand for minerals. MMTC has targeted over 27 per cent turnover growth at Rs 5,500 crore, including a 25 per cent increase in imports at Rs 3,868 crore (921 million dollar) for the current fiscal. According to the export strategy worked out by the corporation, MMTC would also focus more on the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) countries. The recent initiatives taken by India in freeing trade regulations with countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan have opened up new opportunities for MMTC, he said.

Admitting that MMTC's turnover had come down marginally from Rs 4,473 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 4,320 crore last year due to adverse trading sentiments internationally.

Asked about profitability, kapoor said net profits would be more or less at the last year'slevel (Rs 70 crore) and similar trend was likely in the current fiscal in view of "falling margins" in international trade.