New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS): Robust demand recovery in US and Europe has boosted India's engineering exports during January 2021 with outbound shipments growing by 18.69 per cent, EEPC India said on Wednesday.

According to EEPC Chairman Mahesh Desai, exporters have expressed optimism about external demand in the remaining months of the current financial year.

In terms of EEPC India's assessment, exporters buoyed by Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme are planning to add new value-added items in their external portfolio.

"Market diversification, helped by the PLI scheme would go a long way in scaling up the engineering exports which contribute about 25 per cent of the country's total merchandise export basket," Desai said.

As per data, engineering exports for last month rose to $7,174.43 million from $6,011.43 million during the corresponding month of last fiscal.

"Exporters have navigated the post-Covid global market with innovative offerings to the buyers," Desai said.

In addition, he lauded the Centre for extending "a great helping hand" to engineering exporters in the Union Budget 2021-22 by measures aimed at reining in steel prices.