Piyush Goyal takes charges of Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday took charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while thanking Prime Minister Narendra for giving him the new responsibility.

He also thanked outgoing minister Suresh Prabhu and said that he would always look towards him for help in days to come.

"I would like to thank Prime Minister Modi for giving me the opportunity to work in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. I have a lot to learn from Sureshji," Goyal told reporters.

"I will continue to learn from him and take his guidance and support to get a better fix on different areas of work in the ministry. I am grateful to Sureshji for treating me like a brother and to Modiji for the trust he has reposed in me," he added.

Goyal will also continue as the Minister of Railways, a portfolio he held in the first term of the Modi government.

Suresh Prabhu expressed confidence in Goyal and said that the department would do a wonderful work under him.

"The people of India have given a decisive mandate in favour of the progress of the nation. My friend Piyush Goyal took charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Under his leadership, the team here will achieve great heights of success and will do a great job. My close friend Piyush will do a good job," he said.

Prabhu held the Commerce and Industry portfolio as well as the Civil Aviation Ministry in the first five-year term of the Modi government. He had also served as the Minister for Railways before Goyal succeeded him in 2017.

Prakash Javadekar also took charge of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He has headed this ministry in the first Modi Cabinet too. This time again, he has been assigned the charge of the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change too.

Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also took charge of the Ministry of External Affairs today. He is a new minister in the Modi Cabinet 2.0 after former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj expressed her desire not to join the government on health grounds.

Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel also thanked Prime Minister Modi for reposing his faith in him again and said that he would work harder to ensure the country's energy requirements are met.

"I want to thank Prime Minister Modi for giving me the important portfolio of Petroleum and Energy again. In the past five years, many important initiatives of the NDA government had a positive impact on people's life. We will work harder than the past five years to increase the production of petrol and other products," he said.