New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS): Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India registered $863 billion in exports last year and has set itself the target of achieving $1 trillion in exports in the current fiscal year, according to an official statement on Thursday.
This represents nearly 16 per cent growth in a year when international trade is expected to grow by only around 2.5 to 3 per cent, while the global economy remains vulnerable to shocks, and global growth is expected to fall below 3 per cent.
“India began building bridges when the world was building walls,” said Goyal while addressing the curtain raiser of the 31st CII Partnership Summit here.
Goyal said the $1 trillion export target has been set not merely by the government but by the people and businesses of India, including 63 million MSMEs, large and small industries, global capability centres and around 250,000 startups.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had, once again, raised its growth projections for the current year and expressed confidence that India would continue to grow at over 7 per cent and remain the fastest-growing large economy.
The minister highlighted the milestone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completing 25 years as head of government. He described this as 25 years of uninterrupted public service and an unblemished track record aimed at making India a truly powerful nation, restoring the glory India had once enjoyed and making India a developed nation by 2047.
Goyal said the collective commitment of 1.4 billion Indians is being taken forward by the Prime Minister towards the mission of making India a developed nation by 2047 and fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of every child born in the country.
Referring to the 10th edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC), Goyal said that PM Modi had recalled that the Digital India movement had resulted in savings of over Rs 5 lakh crore, or over $55 billion, for the nation over the last 12 years.
The Prime Minister has consistently chosen reform over the easy path. Goyal cited the introduction of GST to bring different tax systems across the country under one umbrella and the integration of regional power grids into one national grid as examples of this approach.
