Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal on August 23, 2021, interacted with the Industry Associates to discuss measures to enhance and increase exports. Goyal, in his address, said that the interaction will create a roadmap to build a vibrant & robust industry ecosystem.
Goyal appreciated the selfless spirit of all Industry Associations during COVID-19. He said that with collective will, agilityand synergies we turned a ‘Crisis into an Opportunity as the Merchandise exports for first 2 weeks of August 2021 went up by 45% over 2020-21 and up 32% over 2019-20 and Merchandise exports for April 1 – 14 August 14, 2021, went up by 71% over 2020-21 and 23% over 2019-20.
Goyal 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, sharpest annual fall in about a decade and a half and our applied tariffs are way below the bound rate of 50.8% (permissible limit under the WTO), with a positive momentum, India is working in mission mode to achieve target of $400 billion merchandise exports in 2021-22, he said, according to a PIB release.
Goyal said that economy is on a path of revival and India received the highest ever FDI inflow in 2020-21. It surged by 10% to USD 81.72 bn 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. The Minister said that from EoDB to Exports and from Startups to Services, India is taking giant leaps in each sector.
Speaking about employment, the Minister said 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.
Speaking about Prime Minister’s clarion call on August 6, 2021, for “Local goes Global: Make in India for the World”, he said Quality, Productivity, & Efficiency, will make our export basket Bigger, Better and Broader and Transforming Industries & Transforming Lives through Initiatives. Goyal talked about Incentivising Manufacturing also. He said the Governments focus will be on PLI worth Rs 1.97 Lakh Crore to 13 sectors in next 5 years,
In his concluding remarks, Goyal said, “The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles.” He said that Indian industry through their conviction and commitment have demonstrated to the world that we can rise to any challenge and conquer it. He further added 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’.