NEW DELHI:
Commerce
& industry minister
Piyush Goyal
on Wednesday urged industry to help govt decriminalise more laws, work with it to push
EVs
, foster R&D and innovation and help in nation building, including by purchasing India-made goods, even if they were marginally expensive.
Addressing a Ficci meeting, the minister also said the initial signals from the Labour govt in the UK were very encouraging for a free trade agreement and the EFTA nations – Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein – are upbeat about investments in India after recently signing a trade agreement with the country.
“First time in history, an FTA has gone into investments and jobs. India can withdraw concessions given in the FTA if they (EFTA) do not fulfil the (investment) commitments. The excitement that I am finding in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland makes me believe that we could actually exceed that ($100 billion commitment) if we all are more forthcoming. They will look for Indian partners and investors,” the minister said ahead of his visit to Switzerland.
The minister also said govt was pushing for quality standards and quality control orders to make the Indian industry more competitive and stop sub-standard goods from entering India and defended Indian spice makers, some of whom had faced regulatory issues in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Indian exporters, he added, are conscious about quality standards and the problem with some spices consignments was “very very” miniscule compared to food and related exports of $56 billion and it should not be exaggerated.
Goyal said that govt, which is looking for a fresh bill to decriminalise several provisions across multiple laws, was not getting enough inputs and asked industry leaders to provide the same.
