NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the ongoing global challenges should act as a “wake-up call” for Indian industry to become self-efficient and productive, make better use of free trade agreements, and reduce dependence on imports to strengthen the economy.Amid trying times, India has an opportunity to outshine others, he said at the CII annual meeting.In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call, Goyal called for faster adoption of electric vehicles to cut the oil bill, while asserting that PM has not asked for a reduction in business travel but had focused on leisure. “Please go to the world for business, spend money to get more money, get more forex into the country, get export orders, lead delegations to the world. You have to achieve the $2 trillion exports target.”Urging businesses to move from “assembled in India” to “designed, engineered and manufactured in India”, Goyal said the goal is to move up the value chain by focusing on quality. He further said the Indian industry must learn to support one another, similar to the way businesses operate in Japan and South Korea. “Focus on supporting each other, make sure that your businesses are resilient to supply shocks, that you are not overtly dependent on any one or two geographies in your business.”
