India's exports are likely to reach around USD 410 billion this fiscal irrespective of geopolitical disturbances, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
The country's merchandise exports during April-February 2022 stood at USD 374.05 billion, an increase of 45.80 per cent over USD 256.55 billion in the year-ago period.
"So I do believe that irrespective of problems we have in the northern parts of Asia (and) Europe, we are well on track not only to achieve USD 400 billion, I am hoping closer to USD 410 billion (during this fiscal)," Goyal said while addressing Assocham's annual session.
He also said services exports would cross USD 250 billion.
"If we want to be a USD 5 trillion economy, our exports of goods and services will have to be USD 1 trillion each, ideally 25 per cent but at least 20 per cent. I say 25 per cent because we need to support our import of oil and therefore our exports will have to go up leaps and bounds so that we can continue to finance our imports and strengthen the rupee in days to come," he said.
"I believe a strong currency reflects the strength of a nation and will always be good for exports because India is a net importer of goods. A strong currency supports the Indian economy," he added.
The minister also urged the industry to consider three points -- exploring ways to fully utilise free trade agreements implemented by India; instilling a feeling of pride for Made In India products; and focusing on development requirements of aspirational districts or tier 2 and 3 cities.
He also asked the industry to give feedback for effective negotiations of free trade pacts.
"From tomorrow, the third round of negotiations with UK will start...Australia discussions (for a trade pact) are on," he said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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