Goyal says exports will increase if products are good, subsidies not only solution

We require quality, good technology and scale, though some support may be needed at times," he said. Underscoring the need for "bolder ideas" for signing Free Trade Agreements (FTA), the minister said India could leverage the lower labour cost to promote its products.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said Indian exports will automatically increase if the products are "good and competitively priced" and that entrepreneurs should not think that subsidies are the "only solution". He asserted that the country has the capability to become a global player in many sectors, and underscored the need for bolstering manufacturing.

Addressing a webinar organised by the EXIM Bank on Saturday, Goyal said sectors having the potential to become globally competitive needed to be identified. "There is no need to segregate between products for exports and domestic sector. We require quality, good technology and scale, though some support may be needed at times," he said.

Underscoring the need for "bolder ideas" for signing Free Trade Agreements (FTA), the minister said India could leverage the lower labour cost to promote its products. "Can we think of some smart options, what we need to, on FTAs? I heard the last speaker before I came in talked about FTAs with Chile and some African countries. Can your team come out with the bold idea? What an FTA with US or Europe or UK will be like? We need large market also.

"We need to penetrate the developed world where we can leverage on the lower labour cost or our skills. When we are going to try and export to Africa and Chile, we'll be competing with people who are already very low-cost & low quality. You want to relegate the nation to that level? I don't think so," he said. India can surely be part of the global supply chain and also a reliable partner, Goyal said, adding that "building capabilities, scale and good manufacturing practices are the need of the hour".

EXIM Bank Managing Director David Rasquinha said India's manufacturing and export sectors have to become globally competitive. He said the EXIM Bank has commissioned a study on the policy constraints faced by some sectors like textiles, apparel, automobile, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

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