The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the export policy and performance of Indian export industries in terms of the criterion of net foreign exchange earnings and to analyze its implications for the formulation of a long-term export strategy for the country. The paper presents the results of an exercise for determining the estimated net foreign exchange earnings of Indian industries during the years 1973-74 and 1978-79. The basis of this exercise has been the 66 sector input-output table used by the Planning Commission in its 'Technical Note on Approach to the Fifth Five Year Plan of India'. On the basis of the computation of net foreign exchange earnings of 66 industries for the year 1973-74, it is shown that some of the export policies in terms of granting export incentives may not be rational if the criterion of net foreign exchange earnings was to be used for evaluating these policies. Similar computations for the year 1978-79 indicate the directions for re-orienting export incentive policies in the future using the criterion stated above. The paper explains the methodology for the computations presented and also states some of the limitations of this analysis for drawing policy conclusions.