NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested the stakeholders of the trade and commerce sector in the country to put their efforts and utilize the new opportunities generated by the changes in the global supply chain in the post-Covid global world.
Interacting with the Heads of Indian Missions abroad and the stakeholders of the trade and commerce sector virtually, Modi said India had a tremendous potential for export growth considering the country’s manufacturing and service industry base.
The Prime Minister said that along with celebrating the 75th festival of independence, this is an opportunity to build a clear vision and roadmap for future India.
“In this, our export ambitions and all the stakeholders play a major role,” he said.
“The world is shrinking every day due to physical, technological, and financial connectivity. In such an environment, new possibilities are being created around the world for the expansion of our exports.”
Modi said that when the country is moving towards the mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat, one of its goals is to increase India’s share in exports manifold.
“To achieve this, we have to make sure that we get access to the global supply chain so that our business can scale up and grow,” he said.
Modi said that the industry would also have to move towards the best technology, focus on innovation and increase share in research and development.
“While encouraging competition and excellence, we have to prepare global champions in every sector,” he said.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and External Affairs Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar were also present during the interaction.
Modi said one of the significant reasons India had the highest share in the global economy was its strong trade and exports.
He stressed the importance of strengthening exports in regaining the country’s old share in the global economy.
He listed the government’s initiatives to boost the micro, small and medium enterprises like relaxations given in compliance under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and an Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme INR 3 trillion ($40.28 billion).
Modi said that the Production Linked Incentive Scheme would help increase the manufacturing scale and increase the level of global quality and efficiency.
“This will develop a new ecosystem of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The country will get new global champions in manufacturing and export,” he said.
Modi said how Production-Linked Incentives helped to strengthen the mobile phone manufacturing sector.
“The mobile phone sector, we are also experiencing its impact. Seven years ago, we used to import mobile phones worth about $8 billion. Now, it has come down to $2 billion. Seven years ago, India used to export mobile phones worth only $0.3 billion. Now it has increased to more than 3 billion dollars,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the governments, both at the Centre and states, focus on reducing the time and cost of logistics in the country.
“For this, work is going on at a rapid pace in every level to create a multimodal connectivity,” said Modi.
The Prime Minister said the government is making continuous efforts to minimize the impact of the pandemic.
“It is our best effort to keep the virus infection under control. The work of vaccination is going on at a fast pace in the country today. Every possible step has been taken to solve all the problems of the countrymen and the industry,” he said.
Modi said that industry and business have also innovated during this period by adapting to new challenges.
The industry also helped the country deal with the medical emergency and played a role in reviving growth.
“This is the reason that today along with drugs and pharmaceuticals, our exports have reached a new level in sectors like agriculture. Today we see positive signs not only of recovery in the economy but also about high growth. Therefore, this is a good time to set high targets for exports and achieve them,” said Modi.
He said the government is taking necessary steps to boost exports.
The Prime Minister said the government had taken a significant decision for exporters to boost INR 88,000 crore ($11.81 billion) in insurance cover.
“Similarly, by rationalizing our export incentives, our exports would be World Trade Organization compliant and will also get a boost,” he said.
The Prime Minister stressed the role of states in achieving the export targets and implementing reforms, attracting investment, ease of doing business, and creating last-mile infrastructure.
He said the central government works closely with the states to minimize the regulatory burden to increase export and investment.
Modi said healthy competition is being promoted between the states to make export hubs in the states. States are being encouraged to focus on one product in each district.
The Prime Minister said an ambitious export target could be achieved only through a holistic and detailed action plan. He urged the stakeholders to accelerate existing exports and create markets and new destinations for new products.
At present, almost half of our exports are to only four major destinations.
Similarly, about 60 percent of the country’s exports are engineering goods, gems and jewelry, petroleum and chemical products, and pharmaceuticals.
The Prime Minister said that with the opening of sectors like mining, coal, defense, railways, the entrepreneurs are also getting new opportunities to increase exports.
The Prime Minister told the ambassadors and officials from the Ministry of External Affairs that in whichever country they are representing India, they understand the needs of that country very well.
He asked them to act as a bridge for commerce and industry here. He said that Indian Houses present in different countries should also represent the country’s manufacturing power.
He requested the Ministry of Commerce to put such a system in place to constant communication between our exporters and our missions.
The Prime Minister said for maximum benefit to the economy from exports. There is a need to build a seamless and high-quality supply chain within the country as well.
“For this, we need to build a new relationship and a new partnership. He requested all exporters to strengthen partnerships with the micro, small and medium enterprises, farmers, and our fishermen, promote startups, and support them,” said Modi.
“We endeavor to create a natural demand for high value-added products of India in every nook and corner of the world.
Jaishankar said that while the event’s theme is local goes global. The Indian missions also need to be globally local to help connect producers with the demand in specific countries.
Piyush Goyal said that the global environment is favorable, and “we should look at leveraging comparative and competitive advantages for other countries for increasing our exports.”
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Saptak Datta and Ritaban Misra
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