Govt committed to ensure industry doesn’t stress to manage situation stemming from unilateral actions: Piyush Goyal

The government is committed to ensure that industry doesn’t face difficulties in managing the current situation stemming from certain unilateral actions, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Friday, adding that efforts are on to diversify exports and boost domestic demand to support exporters.

“Government, of course, is committed to make sure that all of you do not face any stresses or difficulties in managing the current situation emanating from certain unilateral actions,” Goyal said at the curtain raiser event of Bharat Buildcon.

It was Goyal’s first public comment since the US slapped 50% on Indian goods on August 27.


“And towards that end, I would urge all of you to highlight which of your sectors has been affected. Which of your sectors needs alternate markets, because we, in the commerce ministry, through the missions, are reaching out to other parts of the world to look at other opportunities which we can capture,” he said.

The minister said that the government is also looking at giving a boost to domestic consumption.

“You will soon see the GST council meeting next week, as early as next week, so that the impact of these changes can be felt by all of you very quickly, and that can give a big demand booster to the entire domestic manufacturing sector,” he said.

The minister said that various sectors have shared the impact on them during his interactions but no one has complained.

“Koi accha FTA karna chaahe toh uske liye hum sadaiv tayyar hain. Par kisi bhi prakaar ka bhedbhaav…hum na toh kabhi jhukenge, na kamzor honge (We are always ready for a country which wants to do a good FTA. However, we will neither bend nor become weak if someone discriminates),” he said, adding that India will capture new markets.

Exuding confidence that India’s exports this year will exceed last year’s, he said: “India’s exports share in global market is very small, we don’t need to be scared. India is an import-dependent economy.”

Goyal noted that Indian industry managed a pandemic like Covid and nuclear sanctions.

“After these, if India’s GDP gets impacted by 2% and in that too, 40% items are not covered (by the tariffs). Otherwise, there are sectors such as gems & jewellery where value addition is not more than 3-5%,” he said.

FTA, support measures
Goyal said that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Oman will be finalised soon and Qatar and Saudi Arabia also want to do a trade agreement with India.

Goyal added that talks with the EU for a free trade agreement are moving at a faster pace.

Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal is going to the EU and their minister and officials would be visiting India after that.

“We want to do a second tranche of FTA with Australia. Talks with New Zealand, Chile and Peru are going on fast pace,” he said,

At a separate event, he said the government will soon introduce measures to expand the domestic outreach and global foray to boost the country's exports.

“I can assure each one of you that in the days ahead, the government will be coming out with a variety of measures to support every sector, both to expand the domestic outreach and look for complementarities in other markets around the world to expand our global foray so that this year, our exports will exceed last year's exports…This year will define our self-confidence,” he said at a CII event.

The government is working on support measures for exporters as the 50% tariffs imposed by the US on Indian goods are expected to hurt certain labour-intensive sectors, including shrimp, leather, and footwear, as well as textiles.

In 2024-25, India’s goods and services exports touched an all-time high of $825 billion.