The government has set up a six-member inter-ministerial committee, under the chairmanship of Finance Secretary RS Gujral, that will suggest measures to boost Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME exports. MSME sector contributes about 40 per cent in the country's total exports and over 8 per cent to India's Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

Apparel Export Promotion Council Chairman, A Sakthivel said, the committee will submit its recommendations by mid-May. He said, there is an urgent need to look at the MSME sector, as exports are not doing well due to which the country's trade deficit has touched an all-time high of USD 190.1 billion in 2012-13.

He said, although the government is taking every step including recent announcement of incentives and revamping special economic zone (SEZ) policy in order to increase shipments from the country, more needs to be done.

India's exports declined by about 2 per cent to USD 300.5 billion in 2012-13, way below the USD 360 billion targeted at the beginning of the year, due to the global demand slowdown.