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New Delhi : Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on August 10, 2020, inaugurated first edition of five- day virtual FMCG Supply Chain EXPO,2020. Speaking on the occasion, Goyal said that we have to accept the post COVID-19 pandemic reality. World has changed. World will learn and unlearn out of this Covid experience, he said.
“We’ll learn to live in a hygienic manner and deploy technology to be efficient. We will learn to be more prudent, careful and conscious in our business activities,” Goyal said and added that all the new things in the new age world will help us redefine the future of India and be more caring citizens, be caring to the lesser privileged section of society.
Refuting the criticism by some for supporting the domestic industry and checking the imports, Goyal said that we want to protect our industries so that they can get a fair play and access. He said that India wants equal, fair and reciprocal trade with the world. We are moving towards balanced trade with many countries and regions. This is one of the reasons why India chose not to join RCEP as it was completely unequitable arrangement Countries should, in a phased manner, look at sourcing from India, developing their products in India and then encash the large business opportunity that 1.3 billion Indian people offer, Goyal said. He said that those investing in India, should not just look at assembling the semi-knocked down kits or availing import duty concessions, but must bring technologies, best practices, and do value-addition, according to a PIB release
Goyal said that Our Government will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with industries in their efforts to become more competitive and engage with the world on equal and fair terms. He added that PM Narendra Modi, in the last 6 years, has focused his efforts largely to a better quality of life for the marginalised sections of the society. Building 11 crore toilets and taking broadband to remotest corner of the country and taking other welfare reform measures have collectively been game-changers and completely transformed national landscape and prepared India to fight the worst of its kind pandemic, the world has ever seen.
India has been helped in fighting the pandemic due to the massive effort that the nation carried out under PM’s inspirational leadership with strong inputs from industry associations, Goyal said. He reiterated that India can be a part of global supply chains, provide work opportunities to millions of people and enable the people to become a part of our growing engagement with the world. The Indian economy is on a fast revival path, as could be seen by various indicators, he added. The rail freights and electricity consumption has reached the last year’s levels, the exports in July this year are 91% of the last year’s levels, and the imports are also about 79%, he said.