Goods and services exports to cross $760 bn in FY23: Piyush Goyal

Asserts that India's self reliance drive isn't about closing doors but opening them wider, with the aim of letting competitive and comparative advantages determine international trade

India’s overall exports (both merchandise and services) are likely to cross $760 billion in the current financial year 2022-23, commerce and industry ministry Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

In the previous financial year, goods and services exports stood at $676 billion.

During April-February, merchandise exports grew 7.5 per cent, to $405.94 billion, while services exports grew at a more robust 30.4 per cent to reach $296.94 billion, according to Department of Commerce’s estimates.

“The naysayers have been proven wrong. I am happy to share today that India has crossed $750 billion of exports (as of Tuesday). There has been growth in both goods and services exports,” Goyal said.

“Given the fact that the whole world is in recession, inflation is at an all-time high for most developed countries, interest rates are shooting up and there’s a sense of doom and gloom in rest of the world, India’s performance has filled us with pride,” Goyal said at the Assocham annual session 2023.

The minister added that free trade agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia have been welcomed by the industry. While India is negotiating trade agreements with developed nations such as Canada, the UK and the European Union at the moment, more countries from across the globe want to engage with India and deepen ties.

Ministers from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), consisting of four nations–Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein–will be visiting India next month to explore the possibility of an FTA, he said.

Goyal also asserted that the effort of the government to make India self-reliant is not about closing doors but opening them wider, with the aim of letting competitive and comparative advantages determine international trade.