Need to put lot of effort collectively to achieve $2 trln exports: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal Monday said that collective effort is required to achieve the “big” exports target of $2 trillion by 2030 and said that non-tariff barriers should be studied which will help India’s free trade agreement negotiations.

“Let us partner to achieve the export target of $2 trillion by 2030, given that we will cross $800 billion this (fiscal) year. We will have to really put in a lot of effort collectively to achieve $2 trillion. It will not happen by chance, it will happen by choice and I am confident that we can achieve this big target,” Goyal said at the annual convocation of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).

India’s goods and services exports were

$778 billion in FY24.

“We will have to find specific areas in which we shall all contribute, areas where we can play a greater role in the world economy,” he said.

The minister asked the students and faculty of the institute to contribute to study the non-tariff barriers being faced by Indian products in other countries so that the officers can flag those.

“Let us all work to take the free trade agreements that we have entered into, some that we will enter into in the next few years, to all our MSMEs, small traders, all our businesses, so that this information about new opportunities, new markets, new products where we have access in our friendly countries can help us improve business with these countries, help us in providing jobs,” Goyal said.

At the same event, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said that IIFT will also set up a centre for negotiations, as this is an important skill set required in areas like free trade agreements.

It will help students learn about the expertise required in the FTA negotiations.

Barthwal said that the institute is also working on preparing India-oriented case studies for students.

Rakesh Mohan Joshi, IIFT Vice Chancellor, said that the ranking of the institute has moved up twelve places to 15th rank under the management category in the National Institutional Ranking Framework ranking 2024.

He added that several big firms are visiting the campus for recruitment.