Ministry of Commerce and Industry yesterday held interaction, through Video conferencing, with various Export Promotion Councils of the country to assess the ground situation and problems being faced by them in the wake of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown. This was the third such meeting since the lockdown in the country. Union Commerce and Industry & Railways Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, MoS Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Commerce Secretary Dr Anup Wadhawan, DGFT and other officers of the Department of Commerce were present in the meeting.

Calling upon the exporters to think big, and be ready to harness the opportunity in the post-Covid era, Shri Goyal said that if we improve our quality, build capacity, bring in economies of scale, improve price competitiveness, then we can grow and harness the potential in post-Covid world.  “My personal belief is that when a country engages with big scale and looks at market dominance - automatically you focus on quality, cost of production comes down, productivity improves, efficiency improves.”, he said. Giving the examples of adopting LED-bulbs, providing toilets all over the country, providing electricity to one and all, and Universal Health scheme, Shri Goyal said that the Government has been thinking big and delivering on the ideas.

Shri Goyal said that even in these challenging times, we have to keep our priority to keep exports open, so that we don’t lose our export market permanently. He assured that efforts will be made to ensure that urgent and important export orders, stuck for any reason, fructify at the earliest. The Ministry is working it aggressively so as to get the exports revitalized, looking for export opportunities to expand. He said that many geographies are becoming matter of concern. “There cannot be a better time for export and manufacturing business to bring about change in their thinking. You can focus on areas of your core competency. We should also look at areas where we are strong but our global share is very small. We can continue to improve on such areas.”, he said.

The Minister said that in this After-Covid world, India can shine, being a vibrant and transparent democracy, and working with rule of law, along with a humanitarian approach. He said “We are globally responsible citizens and we will ramp up our pharma sector for global needs. We are one family with the whole world. We have a lot of spare pharma products, Should we help the world or be greedy. I am proud of the Prime Minister who believes we have a responsibility to the world .”

The Minister said that We need to bring the economy back on track, without compromising the health of the people. Ultimate decision will depend on the health. Quoting the example of IT industry, he called upon the exporters not to take the support of the Government crutches. He said the Winners have the killer instinct that will not let them settle for the second best. He urged the Exporters to install the Aarogya setu app on their mobiles and popularize among others also, as this will help us in fight against the Covid, by applying technology, artificial intelligence, and identifying the hotspots. The Minister also called upon them to contribute whole-heartedly towards the PM CARES fund.

The meeting was attended by Office bearers of FIEO, EPCs of Gem & Jewelry, Leather, Electronics & Software, Synthetics & Rayon, Handicrafts, Project exports, Telecom, Textiles, Cashew, Plastics, Sports goods, Woolen, Oilseeds & Produce, Silk, Engineering Exports, Services, Pharma, Chemicals and dyes, Forest produce, Carpet, Allied chemicals.

Export competitiveness: exporters urged to scale up quality and efficiency to seize post Covid market opportunities. Exporters are urged to pursue export competitiveness through scale, improved quality, cost efficiency and productivity to harness post Covid opportunities. The Ministry will keep export channels open, assist in clearing urgent export orders affected by the pandemic, and work proactively to revitalize exports and identify new markets. The Government also called for scaling up pharmaceutical capacity for global needs, contributing to relief efforts, and adopting technology for public health surveillance by installing the Aarogya Setu app.