India is taking giant leaps in each sector, Piyush Goyal said

India is working in mission mode to achieve the target of $400 billion merchandise exports in the financial year 2021-22, said Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday. He was interacting with industry associates to discuss measures to enhance and increase exports.

Appreciating the selfless spirit of all industry associations during COVID-19, Goyal said with collective will, agility and synergies, a crisis was turned into an opportunity.

He informed that merchandise exports for first 2 weeks of August 2021 were up by 45% over 2020-21 and up 32% over 2019-20. Merchandise exports for 1 April - 14 August 2021 were up by 71% over 2020-21 and up 23% over 2019-20.

The Union Commerce Minister further added that it is also time to reflect on how to achieve future targets.

He said that India’s average applied import tariff dropped to 15% in 2020 from 17.6% in 2019, the sharpest annual fall in about a decade-and-a-half and applied tariffs were way below the bound rate of 50.8% (permissible limit under the WTO).

The Union Minister in his address said that this interaction will create a roadmap to build a vibrant and robust industry ecosystem.

Speaking about the aim of USD 2 trillion contribution of exports in the economy by 2030, he said that the economy was on a path of revival and India received the highest ever FDI inflow in 2020-21.

It surged by 10% to USD 81.72 billion from USD 74.39 bn (2019-20) and FDI during May’ 21 is USD 12.1 bn i.e. 203% higher than May’20 & 123% higher than May’19, added the Minister.

He said that from Ease of Doing Business to Exports and from Startups to Services, India is taking giant leaps in each sector.

Speaking about employment, the Goyal noted that more than 54,000 start-ups were providing 5.5 lakh jobs, and more than 20 lakh jobs will be created by 50,000 new start-ups in the next 5 years.

He said, it is time for our Industry to expand our capacity, capability & commitment to develop resilient global supply chains.

Goyal stated that our relentless efforts are a testament to the world of our potential and India’s ability to scale and our Industries have truly inculcated spirit of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Viswas, Sabka Prayas’.

Speaking about Prime Minister’s clarion call on 6th August, 2021 “Local goes Global: Make in India for the World”, he said Quality, Productivity, & Efficiency, will make our export basket Bigger, Better & Broader and Transforming Industries & Transforming Lives through Initiatives.

Talking about incentivizing manufacturing also, the Minister said that the Governments focus will be on Performance Linked Incentives worth Rs 1.97 Lakh Crore to 13 sectors in next 5 years.

According to the Minister, the government will also focus upon 24 sectors to attract investment, one-stop digital platform to facilitate businesses through Investment Clearance Cell (ICC), One District One Product under which creating a pool of 739 products from 739 districts and India Industrial Land Bank for providing a GIS-enabled database of industrial areas.

He said that Centre expects that Indian industry should suggest areas for intervention through research, handholding of exporters/manufacturers, deeper engagement with States, greater engagement with Missions.

In his concluding remarks, Goyal said that “The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles”.

He argued that Indian industry through their conviction and commitment have demonstrated to the world that we can rise to any challenge and conquer it.

The Union Commerce Minister further stated that industry associations will play a key role in developing a SAFE ecosystem i.e. Sustainable, Agile, Futuristic & Efficient to make India a Global Hub of manufacturing and together, we will achieve ‘Sarva Lok Hitam’ i.e. growth of industry with ‘Quality driven productivity’.

Ministers of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash and Anupriya Patel also addressed the meeting.