By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 12, 2022: MINISTER of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, today asked Industry Bodies to prepay MSMEs to safeguard their viability and to boost employment and growth. He was interacting with the leaders of major Industry bodies virtually from New Delhi today.

Piyush Goyal was speaking at a meeting with heads of top Business and Industry Associations of country today to seek their suggestions and inputs to ensure continuation of fast rebound of economic activities and high growth rates being achieved.

He congratulated Indian Industry for bouncing back after taking a hit due to the pandemic and for the resilience displayed while grappling with the pandemic, especially in the field of exports.

The Minister said that the growth in services exports, inspite of travel and tourism restrictions was truly commendable and said that we must aim to reach $ 250 billion services exports. He added that Indian professionals had demonstrated great success in working from home and therefore the nation had succeeded in meeting every single one of its international commitments, even during the pandemic, earning it the title of being a trusted partner to the world.

Highlighting the progress made in FTA negotiations, Goyal said that the Government was striving to conclude several Early Harvest Agreements so that their benefits could reach industry soon. He said that an FTA with UAE was nearing conclusion, negotiations were at an advanced stage with Australia and that discussions with Israel were ongoing.

Referring to the relaunch of market access negotiations with Korea, Goyal said that a comprehensive fast track dialogue had been initiated to address concerns arising out of the previous agreement.

The Minister said that there was an imminent need for upgradation of testing facilities and labs to improve to quality and called upon Indian Industry to extend its support in this regard. He also asks the industry to lend guidance for transformational exports growth beyond $ 400 billion.

Goyal told industry leaders to be proactive in giving inputs to the government, especially in arenas like FTA negotiations. Industry should become more demanding, he added.

He urged Industry to use Single Window for business processes and approvals to the maximum extent possible and asked them to give suggestions and inputs for further decriminalization of rules and reduction of compliance burdens wherever feasible.

The Minister also asked industry to invest more and place greater emphasis upon Research and Development activities as a business and growth strategy.

Underscoring Government's commitment towards infrastructure development and capital expenditure, Goyal said that the Centre would always support businesses activities. He also asked industry to use initiatives like the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan and India Industrial Land Bank to the best possible extent to expand and grow. The Minister observed that by and large economic, activities had not being impacted by the current Covid surge.