Days after India realised a record merchandise export target of $400 billion for FY22 ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a renewed pitch for being “vocal for local”.
The stellar export performance, he stressed, is a testimony to the fact that demand for Indian products is growing globally and the country’s supply chains are getting stronger by the day. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast, Modi said: “At first instance, it (record export) might come across as a matter related to the economy; but more than the economy, it is related to the capability of India, the potential of India.”
At one time, exports were languishing at just $100 billion, which subsequently grew to $150 billion or $200 billion and above. But today, India has recorded $400 billion in exports, he said. New products from all corners of the country are reaching foreign shores, he highlighted. Leather products from Hailakandi in Assam or handloom products from Osmanabad, fruit and vegetable from Bijapur or black rice from Chandauli, the exports of all of these are increasing. “Now, you will also find the world-famous apricot of Ladakh in Dubai and in Saudi Arabia, you will find bananas shipped from Tamil Nadu. Most importantly, an array of new products are being sent to ever newer countries,” he said.
“When each and every Indian is vocal for local, it does not take long for the local to become global. Let’s make the local ‘global’…” the prime minister said. Merchandise exports are now expected to cross the FY22 target to hit $410 billion, surpassing the previous peak of $330 billion in FY19. In the last fiscal, exports had shrunk by almost 7% due to the Covid outbreak.
Modi also lauded the performance of the government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, which facilitated purchases of a record `1 trillion by various ministries and departments this fiscal. Before the latest performance, procurement through the portal had breached the Rs 1-trillion mark only in about four-and-a-half years. Modi said close to 1,25,000 small entrepreneurs and shopkeepers from various parts the country sold their goods directly to the government through this portal.
“There was a time when only big companies could sell goods to the government. However, the country is changing now; the old systems are also changing. Now even the smallest of shopkeepers can sell one’s goods to the government on the GeM Portal — this is the New India,” Modi said.