Calcutta, Oct. 20: The target for engineering exports can be revised by another $1 billion, if the DGCIS classifies about 300 HS code commodities as engineering products that had contributed $1 billion to exports last fiscal.

So far, the growth in engineering exports has been more than expected. As a result, the Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) had, recently, upgraded its total exports target to $18 billion from $17.25 billion fixed at the beginning of the year, said Rakesh Shah, EEPC chairman.

In the first half of the current fiscal, exports of engineering goods have grown to $9 billion compared with $7 billion achieved in the same period last fiscal. “However, for the current fiscal, exports shall grow at around 24-25 per cent against 39 per cent last fiscal,” he said.

Faced with a lower exports growth of engineering goods this fiscal, the council had organised a major exhibition in Mexico, as a part of its initiative to explore new markets.

Nearly 150 Indian companies had participated in the exhibition ? INDEE-Mexico ? which resulted in contracts worth over $1 million, Shah said.

Mexico imports engineering goods worth $10.6 billion. However, India’s exports to that country is less than 1 per cent at $145 million.

“We are now exploring possibilities to become a major exporter of engineering goods to Mexico, which has been dominated by the US, China and other developed countries,” he said.