India needs to cash in on re-alignment in global trade, says top official
Insight Online News
Chennai/New Delhi, Mar 16 : There is an element of re-alignment happening in global trade which offers great opportunities for India and we need to cash in on them by putting the right strategy in place, a senior official from Department of Commerce (DoC) said here today.
“Given the fact that there is an element of re-alignment that is happening in global trade there are great opportunities for India and we need to cash in on those opportunities, said L Satya Srinivas, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India while noting that it required due diligence, hard work, strategy and brain-storming.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS), Srinivas said that global trade is facing strong headwinds in terms of high interest rates, challenges in trade finance, supply chain disruption and Russia-Ukraine war among others.
“There are people talking about de-globalization. People are talking about fragmentation. People are talking about ‘slowbalization’. These are the headwinds. But world is inter-connected. It cannot go back to being completely dependent on (it own). We need to inter-connect with each other. That’s where despite all this the global agencies are saying India is a bright spot,” he said.
“Whether it is IMF’s report or World Bank, the growth projected for India is being pretty good. We need to remain cautious because we never expected pandemic which disrupted our lives. But the best lesson we have learnt out of it is that we can deal with uncertainty, we can deal with situations which are unpredictable and we stayed afloat,” he further said.
Addressing engineering industry executives participating in the three-day sourcing show organised by EEPC India, Srinivas said that India is engaged in talks for free trade agreements (FTAs) with EU, UK and Canada.
Talking about India’s G20 Presidency and the potential opportunity arising from it, the senior official said that the working group for trade and investment in G20 would meet this month-end in Mumbai and deliberate, with focus areas being MSMEs, logistics and global value chains.
V. Arun Roy, Secretary, MSME Department, Government of Tamil Nadu stated that MSMEs were key to growth and India joining the league of developed nations. He said that the state government had come up with a lot many interventions to help the sector.
“We are all very clear that India cannot become a developed country unless we support and develop our MSME sector. As a result in the recent years both the central and state governments have introduced several innovative schemes to support MSMEs. From the Government of Tamil Nadu’s side we have made several interventions in multiple aspects like credit markets, infrastructure development, ease of doing business and so on,” he said.
“We recognise that improving market access is probably one of the areas where a lot of support is needed for our MSMEs and Government of Tamil Nadu’s support to EEPC (India) and IESS is yet another instance which shows our commitment to improving market access for our MSMEs,” he added.
The tenth edition of IESS is expected to see participation from more than 300 Indian exhibitors who will display the latest technological upgradation of Indian engineering. Buyers from various countries have joined the mega engineering show.
“This show is being organized at a time when the threat of the pandemic wanes off and Indian economy is showing great promise to emerge as a global leader,” EEPC India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said in his inaugural remarks.
T. M. Anbarasan, Minister of MSME, Government of Tamil Nadu was the chief guest at the event.
UNIINDIA
