Hit by a strengthening rupee and the ongoing euro-zone crisis,Indian plastic producers are urging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene and check the volatility in rupee. Plastic exports fell by nearly 9 per cent between April 2009 and February 2010 compared with the same period last year. Despite plastic products gaining weight in household and industrial consumption,Indian plastic exports have only 1 per cent share in the world market. Further evidence of the sectors shortcomings: exports lost about $2.8 billion in revenue in the last fiscal. Although exporters are doing their best to salvage a struggling market, the fact that the US and Europe,which make up 30 per cent of the Indian plastic export market,are not carrying the same demands. The RBI should prevail and try to reduce the fluctuation in the exchange rates, said Manoj Agarwal,chairman of the Plastic Export Promotion Council. The governments inefficiencies in speeding up transport infrastructure had put the country in a hole compared with its main competitor China,he said. When recession started in 2008,government gave 2 per cent interest rate rebate for some selected products under the Focused Product Scheme, Agarwal told The Indian Express.
