Union Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal on Tuesday shared that there has been a double-digit growth in exports in the past week that is a sign of rapid recovery.
From September 8 to 14, the value of exports was recorded at $6.88 billion, up by 10.73% over the same period of the previous year, the Union Minister shared while addressing the inaugural session of CII’s India-UK Annual Conference virtually.
He also spoke about aiming for the target of $500 billion of service exports which he felt was imminently doable.
The Union Minister said, “We should start an engagement on FTA. It is the need of the hour. We should look at the preferential trade agreement so that we can demonstrate to the whole world sincerity and seriousness of the UK-India engagement. In bilateral agreements between 2 nations, we give some and get some. We are able to benefit businesses & create jobs on both sides of the table. We must look at taking it forward expeditiously.”
“We will rapidly recover, ensure businesses come back on track and we will back to the growth trajectory. We believe our manufacturing ecosystem will grow by $300 billion in the next 5 years. For boosting the domestic consumption and exports, we are focusing on the 24 industry sub-sectors.”
Goyal stated that India ensured all its international commitments were met during the pandemic and said, “This is the trusted partnership India offers to the world which has been recognized. All through the pandemic, our services exports were at 90% of last year’s level of the corresponding period. This has added to the credibility of India as a trusted partner world over. Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, we have been able to earn the goodwill, friendship, trust of world leaders and countries”.
While expressing happiness over the rapid financial recovery in India, Mr Goyal shared that Railways freight loading has increased by 4% in August 2020, as compared to the corresponding period last year. In the first 13 days of September, Railways has carried 12% more freight compared to the same period last year.
While speaking about the initiative between Japan, Australia and India towards Resilient Supply Chains, he shared that it holds immense potential for the country to take it forward with other countries like the UK, Europe, the US, along with certain Latin American and African countries.
He believes India has a competitive and comparative advantage to be able to serve the UK’s requirements.
While speaking on how UK can benefit from India’s healthcare offerings, he said “India offers a huge potential to give quality medical support at affordable prices and at a speed which they will not get in the UK”.
