Exporters should aim at long-term targets

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to exporters and the industry to fix long-term export targets for themselves and suggest ways to the government to achieve those goals.

Inaugurating the new Vanijya Bhawan here, he said that the exports play a critical role in the transition of a country from developing to developed status. During the last fiscal year, the Prime Minister said despite the historic global disruptions, India's exports stood at a total (goods and services) of $670 billion (Rs50 lakh crore). He added that India's merchandise exports in 2021-22 crossed $418 billion (Rs31 lakh crore), as against the target of $400 billion (Rs30 lakh crore). "Encouraged by this success of the past years, we have now increased our export targets and have doubled our efforts to achieve them. Collective effort of everyone is very necessary to achieve these new goals. Industry, exporters and export promotion councils are here. I will urge them to set not only short-term, but also long-term export targets for themselves," he said.

He said that the new Bhawan will significantly benefit people associated with trade, commerce and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. The Prime Minister also launched the NIRYAT (National Import-Export Record for Yearly Analysis of Trade) portal - which is developed as a one-stop platform for stakeholders to get all necessary information related to India's foreign trade.