Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the ongoing global challenges should act as a wake-up call for domestic industry to become self-efficient and productive, make better use of free trade agreements (FTAs), and reduce dependence on imports to strengthen the economy.

Addressing the CII Annual Business Summit here, the minister said the government would hire 1,000 professionals in the next two-three months to assist the industry for capacity building until the district level for utilising the FTAs.

“The professionals will be trained to disseminate information on FTAs and their benefits. We will help them to leverage technology, encourage new products, bring in new exporters and capture new markets,” he said.

Acknowledging that the world is going through a challenging time, as the war in West Asia has disrupted global trade and investment flows, the minister said in these “trying times,” India has a great opportunity to outshine others. He called for faster adoption of electric vehicles as it will help cut the country’s oil bills massively.

Ministry of commerce creates database of business chambers

He said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has created a database of 1600 business chambers spread across the country and would reach out to them for capacity building for exports.

To take advantage of the FTAs, the minister said, “We are planning to take 500 delegations in the next 8-9 months to all parts of the world, particularly FTA countries.”

To the industry Goyal said they should move from assembled in India to designed, engineered and manufactured in India. “We must move up the value chain, get into deeper value chains and become self-reliant in critical components.”

He suggested the CII and other industry chambers come up with a scorecard on targets for the next 5-10 years and then assess each year’s performance against the goal, such as indigenisation, localisation, net exports and foreign exchange earnings.

“Maybe you will start with a deficit but you will rapidly scale up with rapid penetration in world markets. Quality is non-negotiable. That will be our calling card in the future.” The minister said when the world slows down it would be India’s opportunity to grow. “ It is a question of survival for business in many countries. That is a time they need a partner like India for cutting costs and becoming more efficient.”

Goyal also said India must aim to lead the world in quantum computing, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence. “All of these are areas where our Indian talent will capture the world’s attention.”