Make quality a top priority, Piyush Goyal tells manufacturers

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal Monday urged manufacturers in India to make quality a top priority as New Delhi seeks to become a developed economy, powered by key free trade agreements (FTA) signed in the last few months.

Addressing the first National Quality Conclave, he outlined a five-pillar action agenda to institutionalise quality.

These include standard operating processes with strict compliance; skilling and re-skilling of the workforce to reduce wastage and enhance productivity, particularly in sectors such as textiles; undertaking gap analysis to improve competitiveness; streamlining testing and certification protocols to reduce delays and costs; and strengthening shared infrastructure through modern, automated testing facilities across manufacturing clusters. "Our products must be recognised across the globe as a guarantee of quality. Brand India should be equal to high quality. When a person buys a product or takes a service made, produced, designed in or served from India, it should automatically reflect the highest standards of quality," Goyal said.


The minister said India's ambition to become a $30-35 trillion economy by 2047 rests on three pillars - zero defect (quality), zero effect (sustainability), and equitable opportunity (inclusivity). He said the country's $2 trillion export target - comprising $1 trillion in merchandise and $1 trillion in services in the next 6-7 years - can only be achieved through uncompromising quality standards.

"Towards that end, in order to open global markets to help us benchmark with the best in class worldwide, we in the government have been expanding our trading relations with high quality FTAs with 38 developed countries, countries with high per capita income," he said at the conclave which organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in partnership with the Quality Council of India.

Highlighting India's expanding trade outreach, Goyal said that nine FTAs finalised in the past three to three-and-a-half years with 38 developed countries now cover nearly two-thirds of global GDP and trade. These agreements, he noted, open new opportunities in sectors such as textiles, leather, footwear and pharmaceuticals, provided Indian products consistently meet the highest global benchmarks.