By strengthening its domestic industry, India will offer quality with cost-competitiveness, and thus the country has leapfrogged from ‘Make in India’ to ‘Make in India for the world’, India’s minister of textiles, commerce and industry, Piyush Goyal has said.
Addressing the United States – India Business Council’s (USIBC) 46th Annual General Meeting and India Ideas Summit themed ‘From Recovery to Resurgence: reflecting the growing importance of global economic recovery amidst emerging healthcare issues and technological trends’, Goyal said that close partnership between India and the US is central to a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
Goyal said that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that supply chains should not be based only on cost but also on trust. He added that India wanted to focus in areas where it has a competitive advantage to become a bigger stakeholder in global value chains.
With the recent announcements of Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL), Product Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and the Mega Investment Textiles Region and Apparel Park (MITRA) scheme, Indian textiles and garments are likely to achieve cost competitiveness, and hence textiles and garments could be one of focus areas for the Indian government for its accelerated trade partnerships with countries like the US.
Goyal said that the world now looks at India as a reliable and trusted partner and a driving force in the world economy. For a resilient India-US relationship, Goyal called for “multiple dialogues across areas of energy, health, trade and innovation to improve our business to business relationships and provide the people of both countries with better services and opportunities.”
The minister said that India is currently negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) with like-minded nations like Australia, UAE, EU and UK and added that India has been focusing on strengthening 24 sectors where it has competitive and comparative edge. Speaking of a National Infrastructure Pipeline in the making, Shri Goyal said that India was working to boost investment, simplify its tax regime, liberalise its FDI policy and strive to encourage invention, innovation, research and development.
