A R DAS
UNION Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal told Lok Sabha on Wednesday, India is well on its way to reach exports worth 4,00 billion US dollars by this financial year. Replying during Question Hour he said there is consistency in export values from last April at the rate of 30 billion dollars a month, and the total value has reached the figure of 334 billion dollars so far.
Mr Goyal said the Government is in talks with countries like the UAE, Australia, the UK, the EU, Canada and many others to enter into Free Trade Agreements or Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements. He said the move is to garner new markets for Indian exports and to the shift in the global geo-political situation post Covid-19 pandemic in aspects like supply chains. He termed the Productivity Linked Incentives scheme as a move that has come in at the right time to give impetus to the industry to take advantage of the changing market conditions.
On India’s walk out from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement RCEP, the minister said it was welcomed in unison by all including the industry, trade, farming communities and political parties in view of the lack of transparency in it. However, he said India has entered into bilateral agreements with some of the member states of the grouping and is working on it with some other nations.
Mr Goyal said the talks with the European Union on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement CEPA has remained stalled for long, and he added, due to the concerted diplomatic efforts by India, the negotiations have been resumed in July 2021.