Indian diaspora to play key role to boost exports: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI:  Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that Indian diaspora can play a key role in promoting Indian exports and help the country to become a dominant player in the global trade.

“The Indian diaspora living abroad have more familiarity with consumer markets. You have unique insights into consumer behaviour and can guide Indian industry to develop customised products for foreign markets,” said Goyal.

He was addressing Indian diaspora at the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas conference.

“We are working simultaneously to bring about a quantum leap in our quality, in our productivity, in our efficiency, so that Indian industry can truly expand our export basket, making it bigger, better and broader. Otherwise, we may lose our ability to be a global leader."

"This is the philosophy behind Aatmanirbhar Bharat. It is not about closing doors but to open the doors wider to build India’s capability and capacity and our resilience with speed, skill and scale."

The minister observed that new markets were being explored aggressively to enhance the reach of Indian products globally post the coronavirus pandemic.

Goyal went on to add that India is strengthening its entire ecosystem to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025 through rapid structural reforms.

“Our holistic approach consists of improving the ease of starting a business, ease of doing a business, and ease of growing our businesses,” Goyal added.

The minister pointed out that India is growing rapidly and offers a plethora of opportunities for Indians both in India and across the world.

“Our wish is that our brothers and sisters from across the world become the first to avail these opportunities.”

Earlier, Goyal had also asked the industry to focus on quality and productivity, as they impact both manufacturing and services.

Goyal added that a liberalised FDI framework has been provided for promoting investments in various sectors, including single-brand retail, coal, mining as well as manufacturing. 

“We are opening up rapidly in a number of sectors and encouraging investment into India,” the minister added.