People indulging in wrongdoing will be punished: Goyal on raids

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told Parliament on Thursday that people indulging in wrongdoing will be punished as there is no law in the country to protect either big industrialists or politicians.

Responding to the debate on the Demands for Grants of the commerce and industry ministry in the Lok Sabha, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a huge mandate from people as he does not hesitate to take actions if some big people indulge in wrong practices.

The minister said a member in the House has stated that several raids are happening in the country and due to that the industry is not investing in the country.


"I am amazed... I do not understand the relation between raids and investments... Is there any provision or law in the country that if you are a big politician or a big industrialist, action would not be taken for their wrongdoings... Action will be taken.... Jo galat kaam karega wo saza bhugtega uske liye (One who does wrong will be punished for that)."

Goyal also said that the high level of foreign direct investments (FDI) coming into the country reflects the growing confidence of global investors for India.

"India is the destination," he said, adding there is no better destination than India to invest and that FDI into the country is recording high growth year after year and that is helping in further strengthening the country's forex reserves and economy.

Exports
On exports, Goyal said India has crossed the $400 billion (₹30 lakh crore) target and sectors like agriculture have registered healthy growth rates.

Noting that agri exports have reached $50 billion and these will increase further, he said: "Picture abhi baaki hai (picture is still remaining)".

Wheat exports have increased to 2 million tonnes last year from 200,000 tonnes two years back and are expected to reach 7 million tonnes this year.

On the issue raised by some members that exports are increasing due to high commodity prices, Goyal said that several commodities like auto, gems and jewellery, rice, meat, and carpets are recording growth in both value and volume terms.

Goyal stated that petroleum prices are high and so it would have an effect on exports.

He said that some members compare high textile exports of Bangladesh with India, but one should know that the neighbouring nation is a less-developed country and it gets zero duty access to several markets.