Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitches '3 T strategy' to boost economic diplomacy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly floated a three-point strategy to boost country's economic diplomacy. PM Modi held talks with a panel of senior government officials to strengthen India's economic diplomacy and rework strategy related to this, reported CNBC TV18.

As per the report, the PM has mooted three 'T' - trade, tourist and technology - to boost Indian economic diplomacy. The proposal aims to use India's overseas missions and embassies as tools to increase exports from the country.

"According to PM, the functioning of Indian missions should be judged from their ability to boost trade, tourist inflows and facilitating technology transfer to Indian companies," the agency quoted a senior government official as saying.

The official added that PM Modi's inputs would be considered in the upcoming budget.

Also Read: India's exports decline for fifth straight month in December 2019 to $27.36 billion

PM Modi proposed his idea to a panel of officials, which comprised of secretary-level officers from ministries such as commerce, finance, heavy industries and health, at a meeting where he was given a presentation on 'Vision for the Indian Economy' last week, the report said.

In a bid to boost exports, the PM asked the panel to reach out to states and draw up district-specific export strategies, said official. He directed them to work in measures to improve agriculture exports and study the reason for the rejection of Indian farm export consignments at foreign ports. He also asked officials to focus on Ease of Doing Business measures at the district level. 

Also Read: Slowdown Blues: Gems & jewellery exports decline for 9th consecutive month in FY20

On tourism, the PM directed officials to draw up a strategy on popularising the Buddhist circuit amongst foreign travellers.

According to a recent government data, India's export contracted for the fifth month in a row by 1.8 per cent in December 2019 to $27.36 billion, affected by currency volatility, fluctuation in commodities prices. Exports of gems and jewellery declined for nine consecutive months by 2 per cent YoY to $2,436 million in December 2019.

India's trade deficit also declined to $11.25 billion in December as against the deficit of $14.49 billion in the same period a year ago.

By Chitranjan Kumar