India to Build on PLI, FTA Success: Goyal

New Delhi, Jun 11 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday underlined the need for building on the success of initiatives like production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes and free trade agreements (FTAs).

Goyal took charge of the ministry for the second time and held detailed discussions with the officials on various issues concerning the ministry.

Senior officials also apprised the minister about the progress of talks on the ongoing FTAs.

Trade pact talks with Oman and the UK are in advanced stages. Negotiations are also going on with the European Union and Peru.

India and the UK launched talks for an FTA in January 2022. There are 26 chapters in the agreement, which include goods, services, investments and intellectual property rights.

The 14th round of negotiations was held in January. Chapter-wise textual negotiations are near close, and the schedule on goods and services is at an advanced state of negotiations. Recently, a team from the UK visited India for negotiations on outstanding issues.

For India, Oman is the third largest export destination among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. India has already implemented a trade pact with another key GCC member - the UAE.

The current government has so far signed trade deals with Mauritius, Australia, the UAE and four European nations EFTA bloc.

"We need to build on the success of past initiatives like PLI and recent FTAs," the commerce ministry said in a statement quoting Goyal.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal and DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh presented a brief on the ongoing proposals and action items of the ministry.

Goyal emphasised the importance of continued collaboration and directed that a series of meetings must be scheduled in the coming days to delve into the details of various policies and action items that have to be finalised.

He added that there is a need to introspect and coordinate better between departments.

"Steering Committee on Advancing Local value-add and Exports (SCALE) Committee and PLI schemes must be utilised to their full potential to boost exports and domestic production," he added.

Goyal noted that the timely sharing of data and transparency in exports and imports will encourage investors to invest more confidently.

He said that India is positioned in a sweet spot and it is the right time to convert our challenges into opportunities.