No change in position on RCEP pact, 16.67 lakh startup jobs created: Govt to Parliament

New Delhi: There has been no change in India's position on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told Rajya Sabha.

India, in 2019, decided not to join the RCEP as the pact was not addressing its ambitions and concerns and since then there has been no change in that position. China is part of the pact.

Goyal also said that India's imports from China have jumped to $101.74 billion in 2023-24 from $70.32 billion in 2018-19 while exports dipped to $16.66 billion in the last fiscal from $16.75 billion in 2018-19.


“Most of the goods imported from China are capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials and are used for meeting the demand of fast-expanding sectors like electronics, telecom and power in India,” he said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

Startup jobs
The government told Parliament that 16.67 lakh direct jobs have been created across more than 55 varied industries by entities recognised as startups by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as of October 31, 2024 (self-reported), Rajya Sabha was told. Of this, 2.04 lakh are in IT services ans 1.47 lakh in healthcare and life sciences.