Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, said that India will play an ever-growing part in the recovery and rebuilding of global economies. Goyal, in his opening speech at the CII Manufacturing Conclave 2022, said that after the world has come out of the Covid-19 induced pandemic, we will be witnessing a new categorization of the world.
Goyal said that the world does have transnational vulnerabilities as we can witness in the Ukraine-Russia plight, but in the years to come, India will play an undeniably significant part in the resurrection and reconditioning of global economies. After the world has come out of the Covid-19 induced pandemic, the nation will witness a new categorization of the world order and although India is a 3 trillion dollars economy today, the nation should strive for extremely courageous and ambitious goals.
He added that the country can set its eyes on becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy by the year 2026. But that goal will be completely impractical if the manufacturers don’t cooperate and take part with complete enthusiasm in the progressive proposition. He proposed the torchbearers of the manufacturing Industry to infuse deliberately in laborious areas.
Talking to the manufacturing industry leaders, he further said that they possess the ability and the means to take millions of people out of the peril of destitution. He said that they have the power to offer a greater quality of life to the needy and deprived. With cooperation, jobs can be created not just in lakhs but in crores, in the Textiles, Plastics, Footwear, Auto ancillary sector, Sports Goods domain, Agricultural and Food Processing, and many other sectors where labour is a salient part of the cost. The labour is the most competitive and comparative upper hand that the industry needs to put to good use, Goyal said.
Goyal said with utmost confidence that the Indian exports will breach USD 650 Billion mark in the current Financial Year. In the current year, till now, every month has witnessed a record rise in exports and this trend will continue in the coming times, he added. Along with the historical achievement to cross USD 400 Billion mark in merchandise exports, the services sector is also growing rapidly. Considering the rapid growth, the expectation from services have been reset to USD 250 Billion.
Goyal further added that after considering the growth on both sides, it can be said that the Services will gain on much more rapidly and by the year 2030, India would be looking at a trillion dollars of Merchandise exports and a trillion dollars of Services exports. He went on to add that the Services depend on the Manufacturing sector and therefore the manufacturing industry has the capability to propel the nation towards prosperity. India should now be aiming to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2026. The Covid-19 outbreak has brought to the fore the vulnerabilities of the Global Supply Chains and has brought the ‘Aatmanirbharta’ mission in the spotlight.
The country is experiencing a spectacular inflow of Foreign Direct Investment and today India is the second-largest manufacturer of cell phone devices, globally. The country is one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. These accomplishments need to be replicated in other as well as new areas to become global leaders. He informed that India has added 10 Unicorns in 2022, in a matter of just 53 days.
The Indian need of the hour is to zero in on the EDGE the country has in Global Competition. He defined EDGE as – Economies of Scale, Demographic Dividend, Government and Industry Focus on Quality and Efficiency. To turn the country into a global ‘Brand’, a change in perspectives towards quality from Compliance to Consciousness is needed. The Minister urged the players in the private sector to utilize the PM Gati Shakti NMP for multi-modal connectivity, so as to cut down hugely on the costs of logistics.
Piyush Goyal’s 3-point Action Plan for Industry Associations:
At the conclusion of the speech, Goyal gave a three-point action plan for all the Industry Associations, which were:
- Encourage big companies to incorporate MSMEs and ensure on-time payments
- Support each other in local manufacturing
- Educate the youth to enter the manufacturing sector
