Identified 20 sectors where India can become global supplier: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: The government has so far identified 20 sectors where India can meet domestic demand as well as become a global supplier, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. He said industry body Ficci and other associations are working with the government in this regard.

"We have identified first 12 sectors and now 8 more, so we have 20 sectors in which Ficci and other associations are very much part of our engagement, where we have identified sectors where India can not only meet own domestic needs but also become globally competitive and become global leader supplying to the world," he said in a Ficci webinar.

These sectors include food processing, organic farming, agro chemicals, electronics, industrial machinery, furniture, leather, auto parts and textiles, among others.

He also highlighted that despite having skilled carpenters and artisans, India continues to import furniture.

"Can we not prepare India to become the factory of the world for furniture, can we not build to scale at competitive prices so that the world looks at India, to source from India," he added.

Further talking about yoga, the minister said yoga holds huge potential for industry and young entrepreneurs as the world is excited about it.

"But did India really grab the opportunity that the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) opened up for India. Did we set up 100,000 yoga centres all over the world, did any entrepreneur amongst you or startups thought in terms of the possibilities that yoga offers by planning to train maybe 100,000 or 500,000 yoga teachers who would find an opportunity across the globe," Goyal noted.

He said one has to take a person in yoga room for four sessions only and for the fifth session, the person will come "running and then for the rest of his life, he would want to be a yoga participant, that is the power of yoga".

Cure is not only about medicine or about visiting hospital or a doctor for treatment, the huge possibilities of yoga as a preventive medication are known to many but have not been captured as an opportunity.

"I do not know whether all of us have failed the nation and the people of India, where despite the Prime Minister with his vision of opening up door, opening up opportunities, for all of us, (we) have not seized the moment," the minister asked.

He added that post-Covid-19, people may not like to visit a medical practitioner for common cold and illnesses, "so why not look at preventive methods".

"I do not think all is lost, I still think that if some innovative youngsters plan to take it to the rest of the world, India can become a power house providing this technology and it's a scientific technology. Every aspect of yoga, every 'aasan' teaches you something new," Goyal said.

Disruption need not always be technological as it not only comes out of computer screens, he said adding "disruption can come out of a variety of ways. It is for us to see whether we are willing to engage, whether we are willing to offer to the rest of the world India's traditional strengths".