FTAs to help boost exports, generate jobs: Piyush Goyal

Mumbai: The free trade agreements (FTAs) finalised by India in the last three and a half years will help provide duty-free access to domestic goods, boost the country's exports and generate lakhs of jobs for people, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

He said that India and New Zealand have recently signed a trade pact, under which the island nation will invest USD 20 billion (about Rs 2 lakh crore) in India.



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"We are opening new markets for the Indian industry and taking steps to support them ... we have finalised nine FTAs in the last three and a half years ... recently we have signed with New Zealand ... it will help create jobs for lakhs of people," Goyal told reporters here.

India and New Zealand on March 27 inked a 'once-in-a-generation' trade pact, giving duty-free access to 100 per cent of domestic exports, including textiles, leather footwear, and gems and jewellery, in the island nation.

The pact is expected to be implemented by the end of this year as it requires New Zealand Parliament's approval. In India, the Union cabinet approves a trade pact.

For the second time in a trade deal, India has received an FDI (foreign direct investment) commitment of USD 20 billion over 15 years. A similar commitment of USD 100 billion was made by four-European nation bloc EFTA in its pact with India.

On the state elections, the minister expressed confidence that the BJP government will be formed in West Bengal and an NDA-led government in Tamil Nadu.

He added that the BJP and its allies are also set to form governments in Assam and Puducherry.

Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a thumping victory for the BJP in Assam and a clear edge for the party over the ruling TMC in West Bengal, while projecting a return of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu and a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years.


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The counting of votes for all five assemblies -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Assam -- will be taken up on May 4.

Polls were conducted in a single phase in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. West Bengal saw two-phase polling on April 23 and 29. Assam, Kerala and Puducherry went to the polls on April 9. Tamil Nadu went to the polls on April 23.