Subsidies won’t help boost exports; need to focus on quality, scale to meet $1tn goal: Goyal – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said quality, technology and scale of production will help India take its annual exports to $1 trillion and not government subsidies.
He exhorted exporters and the industry as a whole to target $1 trillion worth of shipments.
“Why can’t we aim for $1 trillion exports from India. We certainly can. I see no reason, (why) we cannot. For that we need to be clear on actionable items (and) subsidies are never going to get us there, I am very very clear about that,” he said.
“At least in my six years of engagement, I have not found subsidies to be the solution for India’s problems. I think it’s quality, technology, growth, scale; and sometimes for a short period you may need to give a little thrust or support. But if they are looking at literally running a long term engagement with the world on subsidy, it is not going to work,” he said.
The minister was speaking at a webinar on strategies for alleviating policy constraints for exports in select sectors.
He said there is a need to identify areas where sensible policies can help take exports to $1 trillion.