Piyush Goyal Urges Industry to Be Bold & Boost Competitiveness

Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal urged industry stakeholders to shift towards a more aggressive and competitive attitude instead of waiting for government support. He said this during his speech at the IMC Chamber of Commerce event on Thursday.

Importantly, Goyal questioned, "As a people, how long will we continue to lean on the ‘crutches’ of subsidies, protective high import duties, and so forth? Until when will we be looking towards the government or what support can we get without trying to win with supporting imports, protectionist attitudes, and all other forms of diplomacy where we look far too busy, and much too hostile?” 

Goyal highlighted that the nation needs to overhaul their limited approach to international business, which he feels is far too dependent on government support. He did question, though, why it appears that Michael Porter's competitive advantage is only regarded as useful when business leaders are still residing in their educational institutions.

He emphasized that understanding the way forward to achieve competidon is in the ability of the industry to continuously innovate, alongside improved attitude toward manufacturing, skills, and efficiencies. 

Goyal stated, “In order to achieve our goals of becoming developed, we first need to understand that the needs and wants of 140 crore inhabitants will never be satisfied until competitiveness is realized."

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Goyal mentioned that “Unless the country looks at upping its engagement with the world through trade, it cannot become a developed nation.” 

Nonetheless, he accepted that there will be a few exceptions in sectors where the country is highly reliant on foreign resources like petroleum, military supplies, and agrarian commodities.

Satyendra Goyal, who came to the event after delay, mentioned that he has not been able to have a little bit of rest for the past 10 days because of having to deal with the “turbulent global situation,” and that he is “half dead” because of the many things he has had to do.

It's worth noting that after the departure of US President Donald Trump, and his policies regarding movement some trading has commenced which in turn enabled the US to start discussions with other world capitals. In the last few days, Paris, along with New Delhi, has witnessed a fresh spurt of talk regarding the India-UK free trade pact.

Goyal mentioned that India has always struggled with quality as a challenge, and in industries such as pharmaceuticals, the larger corporations with the global approvals need to help the smaller companies improve their quality for everyone’s benefit. 

He challenged the industry to set quality standards instead of fighting such requirements. 

He claimed that policies operated under ‘Make in India’ for the past few years have cumulatively shaped the attitude of the country and added that now the country is prepared to accept a larger responsibility in international trade.