Goyal urges India Inc to focus more on hi-tech sunrise sectors

Bengaluru(The Uttam Hindu): Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday urged the private sector to step up investments in high technology and sunrise sectors by leveraging the incentives offered under the government’s Rs 1 lakh crore fund to promote innovation. Addressing the India Ideas Conclave here, the minister highlighted that research and innovation remain key pillars in India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat. “To encourage private sector participation in deep tech and sunrise domains, the Government of India has announced a fund of Rs 1 lakh crore, which will provide long-term financing to promote innovation. I urge industries to leverage this fund to scale up innovation in critical areas, in a public-private mode, with academia partnerships,” Goyal said.

The minister also said that India is committed to promoting sustainable trade practices and green technologies, ensuring that economic growth aligns with environmental responsibility. “Advancing renewable energy targets, the country has already achieved 200 GW of the 500 GW target set for 2030,” Goyal pointed out. He also highlighted the strong macroeconomic fundamentals of the country’s economy. “Today, India stands proud, resilient, and determined on the cusp of an extraordinary transformation. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the nation is well on its way to becoming the third-largest economy in the world and is prepared to meet global challenges,” Goyal said.

The Indian currency has held its position as one of the least volatile among major currencies, and the forex reserves stand at about $675 billion -- among the five largest in the world, he pointed out. The minister’s observations come at a time when the country’s external sector is looking up. According to the latest RBI monthly bulletin, the outlook for India’s exports is brightening as underneath the subdued growth profile of the past few months, the country has been gaining share in global trade of key manufacturing items. “In fact, India currently holds 13 per cent or a sixth of the global market share in petroleum products, attesting to rising refining capabilities and ability to meet international standards,” the report states. It is the largest exporter of precious and semi-precious stones, the third largest exporter of insecticides, the eighth largest in rubber pneumatic tyres, and the ninth in semiconductors. In the first half of 2024-25, Apple exported close to $6 billion of India-made iPhones, while automobile exports expanded by 14.3 per cent, led by passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, the RBI report added.