BT MindRush: India was the flavour at Davos, at WTO's Geneva meeting, says Piyush Goyal

Union Minister of Commerce and Textile Piyush Goyal, while addressing the doyens of corporate world at Business Today's BT MindRush event, said today that India was the flavour at World Economic Forum meeting in Davos and at WTO's MC12 meeting in Geneva.

"India was deal maker and was not the deal breaker at MC-12 meeting [which] happened last week in Geneva," Goyal said.

He also said that India was the voice of developing world, was the voice of poor and vulnerable section, and was the voice of society that is not being recognised since long time. Talking about Indian business ecosystem, he said that modernity along with tradition is the strength of business in India.

Highlighting India as an attractive investment destination for the world, Goel said, "Business community, political community and media, all promoted India's growth story at Davos and Geneva."

He also added that unprecedented exports and FDI investment in FY22 speaks about the resilience of the Indian economy.  At the event, he reiterated to the business community to aim for achieving $1 trillion of merchandise and services exports by 2030.

He said, "We have signed two FTAs in a very short span of time, one with UAE and the second one with Australia, people used to think that we would not be able to deal with developed world, but we did it."

Minister also highlighted the interests of many countries to sign FTAs with India.  He said, "Negotiation with EU, UK is going on and UK PM Boris Johnson on record has expressed his willingness to get FTA negotiations to be completed by Diwali."

Goel added further that many countries have approached, wanting to sign an FTA with India. "Switzerland, 5 Gulf countries, Kazakhasthan, have shown deep interest in signing FTAs with India in last few days," Goel said. He also clarified that Australian FTA will be considered by the new government in their parliamentary session.

He also urged business world to make maximum out of these opportunities as "opportunities does not knock again." Throwing light on the negotiations at WTO ministerial meeting, Goel said that India fought for fisherman, farmers and for public stock holding limit at MC-12.

Goel also pointed out in his address that in last two global events -- at Davos and at WTO ministerial meeting -- India witnessed a collective thinking coming to fore and everybody spoke about India's growth story. He highlighted the drastic change in the way India was seen by the world.

"PM Modi has changed the image of India, our passports today are being recognised across the world and we have emerged as the powerful voice of the world," Goyal added.

He said that during the two years of the pandemic, Indian businesses have not defaulted against any commitment during the pandemic. According to him that has credited us as being a "trusted partner of the world."

Talking about India as an investment destination, the union minister said that many companies across the world are looking for investing in India. "India is perfectly poised to be an alternative destination for investment in the world, " Goel said.

Throwing light on the theme of the event, VUCANOMICS, Goel said, "My reply to VUCA is 'Yuva' in India, and the world marvels at the skills of the fantastic youngsters."

Also Read: GST Council may consider tweaking monthly payment form

Also Read: BT MindRush: EVs may form only 5% of Indian cars by 2030, says Maruti veteran RC Bhargava