NEW DELHI, April 19: India aims to boost exports by nearly 30 per cent to $160 billion in this financial year despite a surging currency, the government said on Thursday.

India had met its export target of $125 billion for the year to March 31 and set a goal of $160 billion for this fiscal year, commerce minister Kamal Nath said.

The government was aiming for $200 billion in exports for the following year, he said.

The upbeat outlook came despite the Indian rupee's rise of more than five per cent against the dollar since the start of the year on the back of strong foreign investment in India and broad-based pressure on the US currency.

The increase in the rupee's value against the dollar has upset exporters, especially India's flagship outsourcing industry, which makes most of its sales to the United States.

“We have factored in the appreciation of rupee which keeps on fluctuating. We have already requested (the central) Reserve Bank of India to provide concessional loans to exporters,” Nath told a news conference.The rupee reached its highest level in nine years against the dollar this week. It ended Thursday at 42.10 to the greenback.

The minister said the country received foreign direct investment inflows of $16 billion in 2006-07 compared with $5.5 billion in the previous year.

If re-invested earnings were included, FDI inflows would touch $19 billion, he said.

—AFP