NewzVille Desk
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal delivered the keynote address at the Young Leaders Discourse Forum at Kirori Mal College, New Delhi, on Tuesday.
He said that achieving the goal of a developed India by 2047 was non-negotiable and that today’s youth would be the architects of the country’s journey towards this milestone. He observed that the students would be in their forties when India celebrates 100 years of independence, and that their choices, aspirations and contributions would define the country’s future.
Highlighting India’s export performance, Goyal said that the country had recorded its highest-ever exports of USD 863 billion last year.
He noted that while the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its projections in April-May this year, had estimated global trade growth at 1.9 per cent, India had chosen to set an ambitious export target of USD 1 trillion for the current year, representing 16 per cent growth.
He said that India could have set an export target of USD 900 billion, representing 5 per cent growth over the previous year’s exports, which would itself have been a significant achievement in view of the projected growth in global trade. A target of USD 900 billion would also have represented growth at more than twice the projected global trade growth rate. However, India chose to set a more ambitious target of USD 1 trillion.
Goyal expressed confidence that the country would achieve this milestone, noting that exports had already registered 14 per cent growth during the first six months of the financial year (April–September), reaching USD 480 billion. He said that India would need to achieve exports worth USD 520 billion in the remaining six months to meet the annual target and observed that October had also been a good month.
He further noted that the IMF had recently revised its projection for global trade growth to around 3.5 per cent, observing that India’s export performance could have been one of the factors behind the revision.
