With Exports Set To Reach $650 Billion This Year, Piyush Goel Says India Must Aim For $1 Trillion Each In Merchandise And Services By 2030

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, has exuded confidence India’s exports will cross $650 Billion this current financial year (2021-22).

Minister Goyal was delivering the inaugural address at the CII Manufacturing Conclave 2022 on Thursday (Feb 24).

“Every month in this year, from April till now so far till January, hopefully, the next two (months) also, we would have created a record in the history of India’s exports. Every month is a record export. Collectively, of course, it will be a historical achievement to cross $400 billion in merchandise exports, but then services are also growing extremely fast.

Minister Goyal said that he had initially estimated that the services export in the current financial year to be $225 billion, but he had to reset to $240 billion.

"I have now reset my services expectation to $250 billion; within a year the target has undergone two revisions, that’s the strength of services,” he said.

“Looking at the growth on both sides, services will catch up faster and by 2030 India should aspire for a trillion dollar of merchandise exports and a trillion dollar of services exports." Goyal added.

He further added, “Services rests on the manufacturing sector and therefore you have the power to take the country to prosperity.”

Focus on Manufacturing

The Minister elaborated that a strong partnership between government, manufacturing and academia shall help India remain ahead of the curve in technology, innovation, and modernization.

He added that “India should focus on ‘EDGE’ in global competition viz., (E)conomies of Scale, (D)demographic Dividend, (G)overnment and Industry’s focus on quality and (E)fficiency.”

He urged the “Indian industry to think bigger and bolder every single day”, to make India stronger.

Sharing his views on the relevance of ‘self-reliance’, in a post COVID world, Minister Goyal said that given the global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and the changing geopolitical scenario, many countries have realized the importance of ‘Atma-nirbharta’, especially in critical sectors.

Emphasizing the importance of industry–government partnership for making India a global manufacturing hub, and building ‘Brand India’ for Indian products, Goyal urged the industry to focus on quality and move from the “mindset of compliance” vis-à-vis quality, to a culture of “quality consciousness” with focus on quality and productivity.

He further urged the industry to support, encourage and promote each other in domestic manufacturing. The industry should also inculcate and train young minds to get into manufacturing through encouraging innovation and interventions.

Minister Goyal also urged the larger companies to integrate MSMEs both through forward and backward linkages and also facilitate cash flows for their growth through timely payments.

Dwelling upon the Government interventions to support manufacturing in India, Goyal said that the Production Linked Incentive Schemes will create Global Champions in important sectors. The PLIs will also help the MSMEs by creating anchor industries.

He stated that PLIs will lead to self-sufficiency in critical sectors of the economy, for example, the PLI for APIs and the more recent program for supporting semiconductor manufacturing in India, protecting India against the risks emanating from the global supply chain disruptions.

Complimenting CII for bringing back the focus on manufacturing, Minister Goyal acknowledged CII’s role in designing the PLIs.

Elaborating on the National Single Window System, Minister Goyal urged the industry to engage with the platform and provide feedback to make the system better. He sought industry suggestions on simplifying and reducing compliances and possibilities of self-certification and self–regulation.