‘India moving towards becoming high-tech manufacturing economy’

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has said India is gradually moving towards becoming a high-technology manufacturing economy.

“Government is working to capitalise on demographic dividend to have investmentdriven export-led growth with greater engagement with the rest of the world in years to come. Reduction in corporate tax rates, improving Ease of Doing Business, FDI policy reforms, reduction in compliance burden, PM Gati Shakti, Make in India, are some of the initiatives the Centre has taken to encourage investments,” Goyal said while addressing an industry event virtually. “Today, India is an island of stability amid ongoing global disturbances. Solid structural reforms, macro-economic stability, predictable policy and business-friendly reforms make India the world’s most open, investment-friendly economy,” he said.

“Innovation has been one of the key themes of our Government, be it governance, welfare delivery, or entrepreneurship, we are constantly trying to reform and innovate,” he added.

The minister said India’s overall exports are at an alltime high at near $675 billion with a record GST collection of Rs 1.68 lakh crore in last April and Manufacturing PMI at 54.7 and Services PMI at 57.9. All of these are reflective of the Indian economy’s revival.

“A closer look at the export trends indicates that the country is gradually moving towards becoming a high-class, high-technology manufacturing economy,” he said. Noting that a few days ago, India had hit a century of unicorns, the Minister congratulated all the startup entrepreneurs of the country for this unique feat.

Speaking about recently concluded FTAS, Goyal said India-canada Early Progress Trade Agreement, India-eu FTA, India-uk FTA are other trade deals with the developed nations are in pipeline. The Minister noted that the India-uae FTA will provide a large market to India’s labour-intensive exports and is expected to increase bilateral trade in goods to $100 billion. The India-australia ECTA aims at boosting bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030 from the current level of around $27.5 billion, he said. “For the first time in a decade, we are making massive progress in trade deals with developed nations,” he added.