Time to abandon protectionist mindset: Goyal

With less than three weeks to go for the US reciprocal tariff plan to come into action, the Union government has asked industry to shed the current protectionist stance.

- SHREYA NANDI

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has "cautioned export promotion councils to come out of their protectionist mindset and encouraged them to be bold and ready to deal with the world from a position of strength and self-confidence," according to a government statement late Thursday evening.

After a virtual consultation meeting with exporters and other industry representatives, Goyal said in a social media post that the discussions revolved around ways to expand into new markets and strengthen competitiveness to drive India's export growth.

"The message was clear - Indian industry needs to open up," a source aware of the discussions told Business Standard. Another person who attended the meeting said that, as of now, there's no pushback on tariff cuts from the labour intensive export sectors such as textiles, leather, chemicals. They have communicated their stance to the government, he pointed out. While asking exporters to focus on their strengths, Goyal has asked them to share their demands and interests for better engagement with the US.