Piyush Goyal Optimistic India’s Exports Will Exceed $825 Billion Despite Challenges

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday expressed hope that the country's merchandise and services exports will cross $825 billion despite global challenges.

He also said that there are plans to open offices in different countries including Singapore, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, possibly one in New York, Silicon Valley, and one in Zurich as part of the Indian government's outreach programme to handhold foreign investors.

The plan is that through these offices, a person sitting anywhere in the world can buy land in India, can see that piece of land, take all approvals through a single window platform and resolve issues, if any, through video conference, he said.

It would make it easy to invest in India and do business in India, he added.

"As a next step, we are going to send out teams to man offices of Invest India, National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation and possibly export credit guarantee corporation, so that I can also start offering services for exporters importers in foreign countries," he said here at an event.

At a later stage, he said there is a thinking to add tourism also.

"So trade, technology, investment and tourism, this would be our outreach," he said.

On exports, he said that the current geo-political situation affects everything including trade, economy, interest rates, stock market, and shipping routes.

He informed that the commerce ministry is holding a meeting tomorrow with the shipping industry to look at issues like container shortages, skyrocketing freight rates and how to reduce the impact of the Red Sea crisis. These issues are hurting Indian exporters and importers.

India's exports registered a steepest decline in 13-month falling 9.3% in August to $34.71 billion due to global economic uncertainties, while the trade deficit soared to a 10-month of $29.65 billion.

According to the government data released on Tuesday, imports increased by 3.3% to $64.36 billion, which is a record high, due to a significant jump in the inbound shipments of gold and silver.

'Last year, the exports were $778 billion and I am hoping that this year, we will cross $825 billion despite global conflicts,' Goyal said.

He also said that to attract investments and boost domestic manufacturing, he is meeting countries like Japan, Singapore and Switzerland to set up units in Indian industrial townships.

The cabinet has recently approved 12 such townships in states like Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Besides, four have already been developed and work is undergoing in four other industrial cities..

India is developing modern infrastructure, common effluent facilities, and providing utilities like water, power, digital connectivity in these townships.

"I am trying to suggest partnership with countries, in the manner that in some of these townships of their choice" they can set up units, he said.

"To Japan, I was promising them a golf course...we will create a mini-townships which suits them," he said..

Goyal further said that the countries are recognising that when India is buying oil from Russia due to sanctions on countries like Iran, and Venezuela, it is helping stabilise the world market.

"Otherwise the kind of actions that OPEC is taking, if we were out there in the market with our full demand of 5.4 billion barrels a day, oil would have been at $300 or 400 dollars a barrel by now and would not have come to $72 which we see today. It has been a cooling impact that India's decision has had,' he said.

He also said that the commerce and industry ministry is looking at ways to promote trade and investments through national investment promotion agency Invest India.

"Investment and trade are correlated... We want international offices of Invest India' and that should be like a single stop shop for land, approvals, power and water connections on a click of a button. I have also asked Invest India to support and hand hold Indian investors also like foreign investors," he said.