Economic slowdown an opportunity for investors, says Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal (pictured) on Tuesday said that though the country is going through slowdown, this is the right time to invest before growth bounces back.

The minister urged investors to reassess their businesses and do structural adjustments during this period.

Addressing the Indian Energy Forum by CERAWeek in New Delhi, Goyal said India is seeing a slowdown as it is aligned with the global economy. “But I don’t get unduly perturbed by it. I think it is an opportunity for all of us to reassess capacities, productivity, costs of production.” 

“I had been in the business world before I became a minister for nearly 30 years, and I am yet to see a period where we haven’t seen such adjustments,” he added.

Goyal said India is looking forward to more investments from the United States and there are no trade disputes between both the nations.

In his address, Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi said the government is working on a fresh policy for further foreign participation in the coal sector. 

During the recently concluded coal auctions, the government had got lukewarm response from industry, with only six of 27 blocks getting bidders. Though the government had opened up the coal mining sector to foreign investors, it did not get enough interest.

“At present, the size of coal blocks is very small. To attract global investors, we need bigger blocks,” the minister said.