New Delhi: Industry chamber Assocham claimed that over 1 million (over 10 lakh) people lost their jobs in the export sector during April-February period of the ongoing fiscal and has demanded sops from the government to boost shipments.

"A sharp decline in merchandise exports is forcing widespread job losses in the sector estimated to be over one million people during April-February 2013," the chamber said in a statement.

It said as per preliminary reports, employment losses have been taking place across different sectors like leather, apparel, gems and jewellery.

"Even the engineering sector has been reporting cut in headcounts as the pressure is increasing on the business units to reduce prices as the demand is declining and margins are squeezing," it said.

The export sector, which receives about 40 percent contribution from the small and medium enterprises, employs about 170 million people across the entire value-chain, the chamber said.

During April-January period, overseas shipments declined by 4.86 percent to $239.6 billion.

"The situation is quite serious and requires immediate intervention of the government in terms of some radical steps," it said adding the shipments are unlikely to touch $300 billion for the current financial year.

It has suggested that the export income should be exempted from taxation, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

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