By Vinit Wahi / New Delhi
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal, has urged the representatives of industry and exports bodies to stop depending on crutches of subsidies and grants from the Central Government and strive to make industry more competitive and self-reliant.
Addressing a joint meeting of the Board of Trade and the Council of Trade Development and Promotion organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) here, the Commerce Minister asserted that when subsidies have been done away with, businesses grew. In this context, he gave the example of manufacturing of LED bulbs which are now available at affordable rates in the market due to higher production.
Goyal also urged State Governments, Export Promotion Councils and industrial bodies to make all efforts to engage with the world from a position of strength. He said that every country is willing to invest in India so that they may benefit from the huge market opportunity in India. Commerce Minister said that the time for incremental growth targets has ended and India now needs to leapfrog in order to improve its global standing and ensure that the benefits of growth reach the last citizen at the bottom of the pyramid.
He further said that India and the world are now going through challenging times due to trade barriers and falling economic growth therefore there is greater need for focused efforts to maintain our position and grow in world trade. This forum provides opportunity to work with synergy among all stakeholders so that improvement can be made in the framework, monitoring process for internal trade, industrial growth and exports. All Ministries, Departments of the Government of India and all State Governments have to strive to make mechanisms more transparent and corruption free, said the Commerce Minister.