LIVE: Piyush Goyal speaks on India's Trade Strategy in Fragmented World Order at CII business summit

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]tailwinds when it was growing. We seem to be having a little bit of headwinds.

[00:00:06]So, the policies that uh have been put in place and are being put in place are definitely helping. The FDAs are helping. maybe a little bit of your wisdom in how we should look at this and uh you know maybe it's working together or whatever else that you said um to overcome this short-term barrier would be very welcome.

[00:00:32]>> Thanks Sanjay sir. uh there's a lot of work being done by you and on behalf of industry we thank you for the amount of uh energy you've put in in concluding lot of the FDAs but going ahead in the changed environment um lot of us are exporting there are traditional exporting uh industries but uh with new uh frontiers being opened where their demand for Indian goods may be different than our traditional exports what would you think would be some of the industries which would have to rise up or live to the expectations of uh the new customers if I might. Thank you Sanjay.

[00:01:23]>> Sir sir hearing you is like music to ears every time you infuse energy you encourage us and there is positivity all around. We sincerely thank you for doing what is required the speed of responsiveness and the timely action and intervention which has helped us to achieve 863 billion in spite of all the odds global turbulence. Sir the FTAs which you know you have put the imprint on with 38 countries and with nine MTAs how do we see that the real benefit of those FTAs got to ultimate the districts where the production is and in the centers of production ultimately as you said one district one product that is where the action is so some kind of institutional mechanism or something where the real benefit of FTS go where it is indented Um P I I'll just make one or two points.

[00:02:21]First is I if we can I mean the the quality of presentation made by your ministry on the second stage of FDA was just outstanding. If there is a way in which we can leverage AI and vernacular languages and take it to every district, every industrial cluster, every MSME where they can actually plug in and say this is my product, what is the demand?

[00:02:47]What is the certificate of origin? How will that certificate of origin look like? How can it be transpire uh transferred? Are there any other non-tariff barriers? So, you know, it can always they can all almost have. So, yes, humanto human contact is definitely there. Dissemination is there. But if we can use that through technology that is great. And the second one is a slightly provocative question is on QCOs.

[00:03:12]You know I think uh I meet so many people who have benefited and so many industries who have benefited from QCOs.

[00:03:19]You've emphasized on the word quality.

[00:03:22]uh we also understand uh that there were particular parts uh of the world where we were worried about products of inferior quality at much lower pricing coming and being dumped in the market and lot of people benefited from that also on the other side when we go and meet for lot of these FD I'm sure you go for the FDA conversations when we go for trade dialogues uh and also talking sometimes to some exporters when QCOs are imposed on raw materials on intermediate products sometimes Those products are not manufactured in India.

[00:03:55]How there is a clear there is a lot of value in what why QCO was brought in.

[00:04:01]There always also there are some practical challenges that have come about. How do we see we how do we capture the best of this? What do you suggest? How do we move forward in that?

[00:04:14]CD any >> Okay.

[00:04:28]There are some smart Rahuls also.

[00:04:30]>> Yeah.

[00:04:36]Rahul uh India during co demonstrated to the world that they can trust India. In fact that was one period when we were tested by the world and we came out winners. We met every commitment we made to the world.

[00:05:00]Whether it was in pharmacy, whether it was in our service delivery, all back offices ran seamlessly without disturbance. people rejected their processes so that they could work from home but made sure that there was no downtime and that was the first reflection on India's ability to move quickly during a crisis but ensure the customer is satisfied.

[00:05:35]We need to build upon that and amongst the various things that will help us build upon that is actually quality.

[00:05:45]There was a time when you would go to the market and you would say the older people in the room again Rajie you may remember there are export quality Kamala because there were two qualities there was an export quality and an Indian quality that mindset needs to change if brand India can be reflective of good quality Then we'll become a trusted partner of the world. Anything Indian, it has to be good. An Indian worker has to be proficient. An Indian engineer will do his job well.

[00:06:30]An Indian an Indian automobile will give you long years of service.

[00:06:37]In every aspect, our effort will have to ensure not just profit or not just individual good from where I started but common good for the country.

[00:06:55]If all of us take that as a mission and as a collective commitment then becoming a trusted partner in global supply chains will be very easy particularly given the various free trade agreements either concluded or on under discussion because we would have covered almost all important countries of the world except China of course I don't think any of you want me to do an FDA with China right we're looking at FDA's with countries where there's adequate and fair opportunity and equal uh benefits for both countries.

[00:07:35]Also in digital goods manufacturing we will have to identify products. We'll have to identify technologies, encourage our startups, spend money on R&D and innovation to develop our own uh systems and our own technologies.

[00:07:55]Gone is the time when you could trust that we can only be dependent on imported technology. That trust factor in India has grown. Many other geographies have lost that trust.

[00:08:10]Even when India puts an export control, it is for wider public good of the world. like we put our export control on pharmacy or our vaccines and medicines during co not to profit from it only to make sure traders don't profit by buying off our medicines or our vaccines and selling it to others at a high cost but to make sure we provide it to the less developed countries or to the developing nations either free of charge or at very low cost. So India is a very responsible global citizens. Look, so many free trade deals. The world looking up to Prime Minister Modi is not an ordinary phenomena. It's the phenomena of the trust on 1.4 billion Indians. They are confident about India today. They want to work with India. They want to expand the relations with all of you. They are looking to invest in your companies.

[00:09:12]They're looking to partner with you with technology.

[00:09:16]They're looking to not only leverage the India market but go global from India.

[00:09:22]JCB is right here. 130 countries now.

[00:09:27]A a British company barely started four decades ago in India launching all fresh products from India now and going to 130 countries. It will be the story of each one of you. I have kings and princes saying we are willing to do this for you but first get us a Bkhara in our country. I'm not joking. It's true. And they still to fulfill that commitment I've given.

[00:09:56]We need to be come up to speed. We need to go fast.

[00:10:01]We need to be going out to the world markets capturing them because the world is looking up to India and we have all the abilities. It's just that that laser focus on quality and sustainability zero defect zero effect you'll earn the world market you'll earn the trust of the world even beyond what we did in co Amit I agree that there is a slowdown in other parts of the world but remember that is the best time for us if somebody else slows down that's our opportunity to grow.

[00:10:44]They are going to be looking at cost cutting. They are going to be looking at trying to becoming more efficient.

[00:10:51]It's a question of survival in many countries for businesses. That's the time they need a partner like India. We can provide the best of quality goods services.

[00:11:03]We can provide it at competitive prices.

[00:11:06]And with the free trade agreements, it's the doors are open now. They're open to import. They're open to export. But as I said earlier, what are we worried about from imports? From these countries, these 38 countries cannot produce anything which we don't need. Now, if they give us a, you know, a quantum computing equipment, we'll need it.

[00:11:30]We'll welcome it. We'll welcome more aircrafts. We need more aeroplanes in the country to promote tourism and earn more foreign exchange. So we'll welcome certain things which we don't make in India and that's what the free trade agreement is about complimentarity particularly with rich countries and that's what we are trying to give you to open your door so that seamless value chains can be created for example a smartphone the maximum value ad in a smartphone in any one geography in the world so far is about 38 39%. We are now close to 19 20% already and we I'm told we'll go to 38% in the next 5 years.

[00:12:15]Look at the massive transition that has done and the huge number of jobs that is providing the huge amount of value add huge amount of foreign exchange.

[00:12:26]We have some of the world's best refineries in India or rather the largest and the best also.

[00:12:33]So India is a story of scale is a story of capabilities and we can actually go to the world not only get investments from them and many are committing to do more and more investments. They are wanting to do more.

[00:12:51]We have to take opportunities to them.

[00:12:53]They are all looking to invest particularly in manufacturing and industry.

[00:13:03]And government will be happy to receive any ideas from all of you sectorally or collectively as a whole what we can do to help you attract more investment or seamlessly export more. For example, in the export promotion mission, we are planning to pay all micro units and small units. Whatever it costs to get regulatory approval anywhere in the world, we'll pay pay up for that. I'm hiring a,000 people to what Rajiv just said. 1,000 people we are hiring in the next couple of months, two or three months. We'll be creating a pyramid chain right down to 780 districts where we'll have a representative of the commerce ministry trained to disseminate information.

[00:13:57]We'll train them what are the benefits of an FDA, what is quality and we'll help them to create connections leveraging technology from one to the other.

[00:14:11]I would in fact urge some of you and those of you are in the digital world.

[00:14:15]We clearly and urgently need some e-commerce to go global because it's important that people are able to order into India even at small volumes. We are looking at financing warehouses across the world so people can stock their goods ready to ship on demand.

[00:14:40]We are planning to take 500 delegations in the next 8 or 9 months to all parts of the world particularly the FDA countries. Now what prime minister said is not stop business travel. I I find it so ridiculous when I see some of the very frivolous comments made on social media.

[00:15:03]They don't recognize what he has talked about is consumption expenditure, leisure expenditure.

[00:15:10]Please go all over the world for your business.

[00:15:13]Spend money to get more money.

[00:15:17]Get more foreign exchange into the country. Get investors. Get export orders.

[00:15:23]We will be asking you to lead delegations to the world. If we're going to achieve a $2 trillion target, you have to achieve it. I'm not an exporter.

[00:15:35]So, we're going to work very closely with all of you. And by the way, I have collected database of 1,600 associations, not just CI, FIK, and SOM or PhD chamber. We've gone right down to local small chambers, 1,600 chambers, and we're going to talk to each one of them. Our representatives will interact with them. will encourage new products to be exported, new exporters, capture new markets.

[00:16:08]So we making very granular plans how we can leverage all these FTAs and convert the global crisis into a golden opportunity for India.

[00:16:20]to you Sanjay.

[00:16:23]Yeah, both Sanjay's but uh to to you Sanjay you spoke about which industries can leverage these FDAs frankly typically what do we think we think of textiles think of leather we think of sportsware these are obviously going to benefit but to my mind I cannot think of any industry which will not benefit because we have always thrown in some investment element we've thrown in some hospitality element. We've thrown in an education element. We've put in large number of openings for the service sector in all of our FDAs. We've been able to get uh access for our fisher fish product, seafood products. We are the world's sixth largest seafood manu seafood exporters today. Can you believe with US tariffs at 50%.

[00:17:18]All right. Our seafood exports and the war post March our seafood exports last year grew by 12 or 14%. We crossed 8 billion 72,000 crores seafood export. Now everybody was panicking. I got letters from every chief minister that what will happen to our fishermanmen? What will happen to our marine exports when that duties kept getting increased? The US was a big market. But this is a this is a government which is alive which is always active working with the world. We immediately got cracking with the EU.

[00:17:58]They delisted our seafood exporters some 10 or 12 years ago. I don't know 2012 13 14 I don't remember now. And for so many years they were not relisting them. I just stopped all the QCOs, stopped approving any QCOs and they panicked. Here's Kamal Bali is here from Volvo. I don't know if I any of my actions hurt you and they panicked. Why have you stopped our QCOS?

[00:18:28]I was also shocked because I had not done it. It's a good smart officer in my team who did it. I almost blasted him.

[00:18:35]You spoiling all my relations. here I am finalizing a FDA with EU and you stopped all QCU approvals and he very politely very softly the officer's name I'm not giving some of you know him yeah he said sir we have been waiting for 12 years for our marine fishery exporters to get listed they can wait a few months for their QCOs that's the Modi government for you even our officers think like us now And we got our listing more than 125 fish establishments listed very very fast.

[00:19:14]We opened the Russian market. So whatever we lost in the US, we not only made up, we more than made up with Russia and Europe opening up. Now with US tariffs going down post the FDA and the orders of the Supreme Court and all of that, we will see expansion.

[00:19:35]seafood will go not only to the US back again or has started but also to Europe also to Russia and no AI is going to hurt seafood right so I'm I'm just sharing with you that this is you have to be proactive and which is what we are trying to do through dissemination of knowledge what Rajiv mammani gi said is right we are going to leverage technology so that we the information as symmetry which is hurting us in at sometimes adequate information about what sectors have been opened up where the opportunities are those are the works that we will do but it's only as good as you capture the opportunity uh to Sanjay Buddhya similar I mean there's a safety is is for you to leverage I'm I'm out of the game of the private sector Now, so that's what and lastly to your question on QCOS.

[00:20:51]>> Well, I think it's unfortunate that some import lobbies manage to misrepresent what QCOs are all about. QCO is nothing but an effort to raise the consciousness of India and Indian consumers that quality matters and quality is not expensive. It's good for us. It's good in the long run. It'll help India in the long run. Normally we had BIS standards. You would have liked everyone to follow those but sadly they just remained a standard on paper not being followed. We were getting substandard goods from some of the geographies coming into India at abby abyssibly low price becoming a disincentive for good quality goods and services and the quality control order is a little bit of a effort to persuade consumers and suppliers whether Indian or foreign to consciously respect India's quality standards and I Any effort in that direction is good for India. Some misplaced, misinformed uh or I would say misdirected efforts largely driven by importers lobbies and those are importers of you know consumer goods, furniture importers and stuff like that. toys importers. These are the guys who actually misrepresented it so that they could get lowcost zeroduty goods from countries like the ASEAN region which FDA was signed by the Congress government before we came in and which I'm told industry is not very happy about because it's an unfair competition. They don't open their markets to our products. Our exports to the ASEAN region to Japan, Korea, all the FDA has done pre204 are flat and our imports are just bjgering growing. Trade deficit is growing by leaps and bounds.

[00:23:04]So it's time that we started taking action to get good quality stuff and respecting good quality. I would urge all of you please take the message of Atman seriously. message of quality seriously. Don't be pennywise and pound foolish. Focus on supporting each other.

[00:23:28]Focus on faster indigenization.

[00:23:31]Make sure your businesses are resilient to supply shocks. Make sure you're not overtly dependent on any one geography or one or two geographies in your business. And therefore this is a good wakeup call in your interest and this will hold you in goodstead for many many years to come and I'll come back to this stage after a year as I've done year on year and I am sure you will all appreciate by that time the value of the honorable prime minister's guidance for all of industry.

[00:24:11]Thank you.

[00:24:12]>> Thank you very much.

[00:24:15]Thank you very much and on behalf of everyone push thank you so much for spending the time and for your honest remarks and conversations and for me >> thank you for the entire year. Thank you so much. Thank you >> in my hair do I just hope the same thing doesn't happen to you. What has what the people have done to Jam and his party?

[00:24:50]Our evergreen hero of CI Mr. Chandjit Banerjee the president of the import export committee of CI Mr. Sanjay Buddhya somebody I really look up to for cutting edge technologies and the wonderful work he does I also fight a lot with Sanjay that he needs to grow much faster to capture the opportunities around the world but somebody who really makes worldclass machine tools Mr. Sanjay Jartanu my good friend Amit Kalyani with whose father I was uh sharing the enjoyable bajad at 100 evening yesterday.

[00:25:45]Another company that makes us proud for their fabulous achievements in terms of defense, auto components, truly cutting edge technology stuff which will remain ever relevant irrespective of any amount of AI.

[00:26:06]I'm making a pitch for investments in Kalyani boss.

[00:26:13]Mr. Rahul G, all the captains of industry, distinguished delegates, friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, a very very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to share some thoughts with you and take forward the very appropriate theme for today where you're discussing the future.

[00:26:45]What would be India's trade strategies in this fragmented world order as we vision the India of tomorrow the India at 2047 only yesterday friends we completed 75 years of pranatishta of sumnat mandonder in Gujarat sumnat temple is not just a joting temple we all reverent and resurgent bharat I don't know how much u you read up about sumnat's reconstruction it's a temple which has seen thousands of years of destruction repeated attacks but we always come back. It has always been rebuilt. It has always come back to as a place of dedication, as a place of service.

[00:27:55]And in that sense, it's the spirit of Sardar Patel that we see when we look at Sumna temple today.

[00:28:05]We find in the sumnat temple a focus which is very relevant to today's economy because sumnat mandr is reflective of atmaar bharat it's reflective of bharatka atma vishwas and it's reflective on our atma raa Atman because despite any challenges, India bounces back and bounces back bigger and better.

[00:28:49]Come what may, the self-confidence that India has today is unmatched anywhere in the world.

[00:29:00]And we all collectively recognize that whether it's geopolitical challenges, whether it's economic challenges, whether it's technological challenges, India has the ability to defend to fortify ourselves against any challenges that are thrown on us.

[00:29:26]And all of these collectively is the India of today ready to take on the future.

[00:29:38]Just yesterday the Baj family celebrated 100 years.

[00:29:44]Incidentally Rahul Bajad I'm told is the only person to have been president of CI twice. So Rajiv you have no chance.

[00:29:54]They trouble they tire you out so much that it only needs a person like Rahul Bhai to have the gumption to take it on twice I think.

[00:30:06]But look at the story of the Bajage family.

[00:30:11]A story which has seen three eras. the colonial world under the British when it started the pre-liberalization the socialist era in India and the liberal world in which today the Bajad group is growing leaps and bounds year on year a symbol of resilience but also a symbol of confidence A symbol of a company rooted in tradition but a mindset which is more modern than the most modern.

[00:30:58]High family traditions and value systems. Five generations living and working together.

[00:31:09]I say all this friends because they did not only take part in the freedom struggle.

[00:31:19]They were a big voter of suadeshi.

[00:31:24]They gave their wealth in charity even when it was not compulsory to do so under the company's act.

[00:31:36]And for them they always believed that the common good prevails over individual good and that friends has been a theme that I have shared with all of you on every occasion that I have come and addressed whether CI any other association in a sectoral association.

[00:32:09]And I would urge you to look back at the common theme that the Modi government and all of us part of his team have consistently maintained over the last 12 years.

[00:32:29]How many times on this podium have I expressed that Indian industry must learn to support each other. Look at the Korean style. Look at the Japanese way of working.

[00:32:46]How long are we going to be so myopic in our view that we don't recognize that the common good of Indian industry will help our individual future also will be good for us individually also that lesson is now no more a suggestion it's becoming an imperative It doesn't need governments to stop Indian steel from going to Korea or Japan.

[00:33:22]Industry makes sure that they support each other. And if I recall some of my comments made at different podiums to all of you, I would like to just highlight three or four to show you the commonality of thread in the thinking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this government.

[00:33:58]Soon after a cabinet meeting I was addressing the media on 17th May 2017 9 years ago and I said and I quote under Prime Minister Modi we are looking to make India self-reliant in terms of power requirement along with providing carbon-f free sources of power. thus improving India's position globally."

[00:34:32]I was addressing the economic times awards on 1st December 2019 into our second term.

[00:34:43]When I said our government is happy to carry the swadeshi tank, we believe that our self-reliance, our self-sufficiency and our self-confidence is going to determine the future of India and the future of the people of India.

[00:35:09]Speaking at the CI celebration of 75 years on 8th August 2020 during co I had said reinforcing the prime minister's launch of atmaar bharat atmanervar bharat can only succeed when you and I put in equal effort.

[00:35:38]When you and I believe in ourselves and in each other, when you and I go from a position of confidence and strength and that is what in a way the prime minister had said when he launched atma bharat, it would have to be a collective action. All of us are in it together.

[00:36:11]It cannot be the government versus the industry.

[00:36:18]It is the government and business and industry and the people of India.

[00:36:27]In fact, uh I gave one budget in 2019 that interim budget. If I remember correctly, I ended by saying this that when 120 crude Indians at that time it was 120 crores. When 120 cr Indians take one step forward, the nation will move 120 cr steps forward.

[00:36:56]In fact in the same event on VC on 8th August 2020 I had said atma bharat is not just a slogan it should become the mission of our lives and friends when I was addressing the India at 75 summit of CI on 12th August 2021 I had mentioned a theme which I have spoken amp number of times.

[00:37:34]Our aim is to make brand India a flag bearer of quality, productivity, talent and innovation.

[00:37:50]Now these five comments all of them made years ago is what the prime minister said day before yesterday.

[00:38:09]It is only the need of the hour that we've got to strengthen the India spirit.

[00:38:22]The global situation is well known to all of us.

[00:38:26]We are all conscious of geopolitical challenges.

[00:38:35]What we need today is a wakeup call.

[00:38:42]And what the honorable prime minister has attempted to do is to guide us that it cannot be business as usual.

[00:38:53]And India has always performed best during times of adversity.

[00:39:00]Very often we joke amongst ourselves that the best out of you and me comes out when there's a problem and we convert every crisis into an opportunity there are there could be all sorts of issues that we are confronted with but I don't think any of us has ever buckled under any pressure any of us has ever given up when we face any challenges and that's the story of India I mean the world today with with a fragmented geopolitical and business situation is facing facing a crisis every day.

[00:40:02]But look at the India story.

[00:40:06]Within this crisis, our economy remains robust.

[00:40:13]Very strong fundamentals. The IMF says if you have 8 to 12 months of uh foreign exchange reserves to cover your imports, you are considered in a very strong position.

[00:40:28]We have 11 months cover on our imports.

[00:40:32]11 months.

[00:40:37]We've had a record year in exports.

[00:40:40]We've exported.

[00:40:42]The final figure will be out in a couple of days, but roughly $863 billion, which is an all-time high. $863 billion of exports and our trade deficit.

[00:41:05]Goods and services together is less than our annual remittances, much less than our remittances.

[00:41:18]And remittances is today's trait in this changing world. You must be reading about our FDA is also having a serious strong element of mobility partnerships because trade today also includes people movement.

[00:41:37]The number of people working in the gulp alone has crossed 10 million or if you want to go even into finer detail the number of people working in UAE alone has grown from 1.8 8 million to 4.5 million in the last 12 13 years.

[00:41:58]This is this is all business that they're going there for. This is all service that India is providing to the world.

[00:42:11]And with such a strong situation, should we not become more ambitious and plan for a brighter future?

[00:42:24]Come to think of it, some of you may recall 5th January 2015, the honorable prime minister of India launched Ujala.

[00:42:35]We've just had the ujala mantri leiv dhendra pradan was petroleum minister when was launched that is the cooking gas connections to every household in the country I had launched the LED lighting program 5th January 2015 was there a crisis at that point of time did anybody We start wondering, "Oh my god, what's the problem? Why is the prime minister launching an energy saving LED bulb?

[00:43:15]Do we have a power shortage? Are we going to run out of power?

[00:43:20]Did any of you think of that?

[00:43:24]Or did you recognize the economic strength that energy efficiency brings to the table?

[00:43:33]how we've been able to save probably $10 billion of energy bills every year, year on year for our consumers and of course in the process save electricity consumption particularly during peak hours when it's most essential and thereby help the environment. It was a sustainability come efficiency program done with zero cost to the government. Peopleled movement.

[00:44:08]All of you adopted it in your companies.

[00:44:10]The people of India adopted it in their homes. Everybody benefited.

[00:44:17]Show me one person who didn't benefit from that.

[00:44:22]when you run your factories and some of you may be using furnace oil.

[00:44:30]I started my career with a small for shop very very small amit don't even but I needed furnace oil for my furnaces 40 years ago and there were two ways I could let my furnace so oil my furnace use the same nozzle for maybe 2 months and not replace it which would keep guzzling more and more furnace oil or I had to give it a shutdown, let it cool, replace the nozzle frequently because furnace oil nozzle tends to expand with usage and passage of furnace oil which is any case a pretty rough fuel.

[00:45:26]But when we did the baths, it was a no-brainer. The saving and burned soil was far greater than the cost of that nozzle which was barely a few hundred rupees I think.

[00:45:42]And I mean we all use cars fuel injection systems don't they have the nozzle? is smartly maintained. Can you imagine how much furnace or how much petrol or diesel we can save?

[00:45:58]How many of us bother about it?

[00:46:03]I don't know. Maybe you all do. You're very smart. You're very conscious.

[00:46:07]Or maybe you're too rich to bother about it.

[00:46:15]I'm just sharing these thoughts to bring to your attention how small actions collectively by 1.4 4 billion people can have transformational results and it's a time it's a wakeup call it's a call to action in every walk of life I I think only last year at the same stage I had shared with you how the late Pande somebody I've looked up to all my life as the finest create creative uh advertising person that I've met in my life had gifted me two films when I launched uh Ujala he made it himself and very simple things there bunch of kids at home who are going and uh in a way cautioning their parents parents about switching off the air conditioner when they leave the room.

[00:47:30]Switching off the light bulb or the fan bulb, not keeping the car air conditioner on for 20 minutes before you come to come down to sit in the car. Small interventions, big results.

[00:47:51]It's really about efficiency, better productivity, a consciousness that we all need to wake up to.

[00:48:03]Sustainability is all about saving waste and all that we are saying is save that waste. It'll help you. It'll help the country.

[00:48:15]And I think looking at uh while the businesses around the world one can clearly see that while the world is facing so many uncertainties, India continues to be an outlier.

[00:48:31]We continue to show resilience, we continue to be confident, continue to be the fastest growing large economy.

[00:48:41]Prime Minister had articulated very beautifully when he said when the world talks about slowdown, India writes stories of growth.

[00:48:54]When the world when the world faces a trust crisis, India becomes a pillar of trust and that is all of you.

[00:49:10]And the strength is not accidental.

[00:49:13]The strength comes from a decade of reform under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. You've elected him twice as the prime minister of the country.

[00:49:27]In October, he will be the longest serving, he's actually the longest serving head of government between the state and center.

[00:49:35]And in October, he'll complete 25 years.

[00:49:38]first as chief minister and then as prime minister uninterrupted 25 years as head of state and then head of government in the center but you've all trusted him a mandate you've repeatedly reinforced even in state elections I suddenly found all our friends from West Bengal have a voice and more attendance at this summit than ever before.

[00:50:21]>> So next time Rajie when he goes to audit a company in West Bengal will not have to be worried about getting arrested for some comment he may have made in Delhi.

[00:50:36]Friends, this doctrine of atmana, this doctrine of self-reliance, our confidence in ourselves has not changed. It's been our consistent stand and year after year we have tried to bring in programs to encourage this.

[00:51:02]We have tried to work with you as a team to make sure that we don't let any opportunity go by.

[00:51:15]The the theme taken by CI in a way is also reflective of a time to ideulate, think of newer ways of doing work, smarter ways.

[00:51:31]For example, I remember I was always a big voter of electric vehicles. Something many of you have heard me speak about many times. Is it the first time that I'm talking about electrical vehicles? Certainly not. The first time I spoke was at an overdrive function at Hyatt Regency went out of the blue, not a part of any script, not a part of any plan since some cars were being rewarded for good design and I think some motorcycles of electric genre had come in at a CNBC overdrive awards function 10 years ago or 11 years ago. I just thrown a number at the pe at the audience. I said I'd love to see an India where every new vehicle sold is an electric vehicle by 2030.

[00:52:33]Smarter people, younger people in the room, not you, Rajie. No whitehead people.

[00:52:38]The younger guys with black hair.

[00:52:47]can Google and find my comments or maybe claudate or chip it.

[00:52:56]But then we evolve with time.

[00:52:59]I used to fight with the late victim Kirloskar against hybrids.

[00:53:05]Today I realized that probably a plug-in hybrid could be the best way to take the whole country into electrics. cut down our requirement of battery have an ICE engine and the battery I see my own cars we don't run 100 kilometer a day in any of my cars whether in my home in Mumbai or in my office in Delhi the running is less than 100 km so just 100 kilome back battery with a backup of an ice engine for those extra miles I may have to go once in a And lo and behold, you have a more affordable car. You have a you are rid of the range anxiety.

[00:53:52]Your import bill on battery for the present. And once we start manufacturing in bigger numbers, that should not be a problem. In any case, it's a win-win for everybody. And we'll cut down our petrol diesel consumption massively.

[00:54:12]car pooling. What Prime Minister Modi said yesterday or using the metro and we are investing billions of dollars lacks of crudes on metros around the country or the rapid rail systems.

[00:54:27]The the amount of investments in infrastructure coupled with your own effort to bring down import bill in whatever form it may be will be the collective action to make the country stronger.

[00:54:47]I don't see any reason we need to be concerned. I think we need to be empowered. We each one of us should go back even more excited about the possibilities that the future holds for us and and FTAs are only meant to reinforce your ability both to attract more investment to export more. All the 38 countries with which we have done an FDA in the last three and a half years the nine FTAs are all rich countries. They complement us. They don't compete with us. I mean, nothing can be made in Switzerland with $105,000 per capita income at a cost lower than ours.

[00:55:34]Nothing can be made in the US at $80,000 per capita or EU at $50,000 per capita smarter and better than us.

[00:55:45]But we can certainly leverage those big markets, those trillions of dollars that they spend on imports every year. Our talent can take us to the next level.

[00:55:59]And it's time that we started seriously reflecting on artificial intelligence and the tech transition as a force multiplier for us.

[00:56:14]I don't know whether we have really done some study. I urge CI to deeply reflect on so many areas where AI is only going to make our job better, more efficient and add to the opportunities that are available to us.

[00:56:35]Using robotics, using quantum computing, we are going to become more efficient, more competitive.

[00:56:44]Why do you think the GCC's are flocking to India? 1,800 already here, at least 500 more in the pipeline, expected to cross 2,500 in the next 5 years.

[00:56:58]Our exports from these GCC's are growing literally 40 50% each year currently at $50 billion employing 2 million people directly and the ecosystem they support would probably be another 10 million people.

[00:57:20]It's a time to grab all these opportunities.

[00:57:24]I don't see any problem. I see huge potential.

[00:57:30]It's the problem is in the mind. The potential is before us.

[00:57:36]And friends, there may be some sectors which are tech vulnerable.

[00:57:40]You you know we've also moved we moved from the call centers to BPOS, BPOS to software to business processes to strategy. We'll move to AI.

[00:57:54]We leverage the Y2K moment. so smartly.

[00:57:57]Now we'll be the world's leaders in applied AI. Who will prepare the applications on these large language models? We Indians will and in every every area I mean diamonds are down. Lap grown diamonds is the new opportunity. Energy costs in India are low. Plus, we have huge ambitions and plans on green energy.

[00:58:28]Now, imagine if we were to sell a lab grown diamond made by renewable energy, green energy in Europe or other parts of the world as a sustainable diamond.

[00:58:43]Look at the tremendous possibilities that it holds and the amount of people who will get engaged in making the beautiful jewelry that many people are wearing for that matter. I mean it may sound very small to you but I think it's a huge potential artificial jewelry. I have people in my constituency who make artificial jewelry.

[00:59:11]Fabulous work.

[00:59:13]probably better than what some