By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, SEPT 12, 2019: THE Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Mr Piyush Goyal, held a meeting with around 100 domestic industry, manufacturers, associations of various sectors and users yestreday to discuss and provide a holistic view about regulatory instruments for the formulation and implementation of effective trade policy and development strategy. Senior officials of various Ministries and Departments of Central Government also participated in the meeting.

Commerce & Industry Minister, in his address, said that tariff & non-tariff measures will be used judiciously by India with an ultimate aim to enable industry to become more competitive. Piyush Goyal said that Departments of Commerce & DPIIT are there to balance interests of domestic consumers and industry. He said that DGTR office is being strengthened with more man power who will be properly trained to perform their duties effectively. Regarding corruption issues that are delaying consignments, the Minister requested exporters to write directly to Secretaries of line ministries or to Commerce & Industry Ministry as Government of India is committed to ensuring a corruption free environment in each and every Ministry and Department of the Government.

Additional Secretary and DG Trade Remedies said that the helpdesk in Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has been upgraded to a facilitation centre to create awareness regarding trade remedies and to provide full support to the industry, particularly nascent domestic producers and MSMEs. Help line number is 1800 111 808 and Email: helpdesk.dgtr@gov.in

The objectives of the meeting were awareness generation about regulatory instruments amongst the stake-holders, to provide a platform where issues faced by the domestic industry may be appropriately addressed and calibrate trade policy to balance domestic industry interests, including protection against unfair trade practices with imperatives of consumer interest, efficiency and competitiveness. The meeting focused on the prudent use of all available Trade Policy Instruments, viz. Tariff Measures, Non-Tariff Measures as well as Trade Remedial Measures for the Indian industry.

Detailed discussions were held on the ease of goods movement and competitiveness which are necessary for India to integrate with global value chains. Piyush Goyal stressed on the need to ensure secure and vibrant manufacturing in strategic sectors, and the necessity to include domestic stakeholders in trade policy-making process, along with policy and institutional coordination amongst stakeholders and the Government.

Yesterday’s meeting stressed on a systematic understanding of trade policy instruments, especially non-tariff measures, to ensure that limited resources are channelized for achieving economic development. Further, the meeting discussed the policies adopted by other countries. In this context, it was noted that other countries, especially the developed ones resort more to non-tariff measures than tariff measures.

The rate of growth of merchandise imports during 2018-19 over 2017-18, was higher than that of exports over the same period, which underscores the need to increase exports at a much higher rate. This is possible only if Indian industry is globally competitive.