Piyush Goyal praises Telangana’s agricultural produce

Participating in an interaction on `Enhancing global opportunities for Indian Manufacturers’, organised by industry body FTCCI, he said that the trade community should focus on quality to tap the international opportunities.

Hyderabad: Turmeric, spices, chilli and cotton and a few varieties of rice grown in Telangana have come in for praise from Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, who also mentioned the unique Cheriyal paintings from the State.

Participating in an interaction on `Enhancing global opportunities for Indian Manufacturers’, organised by industry body Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) here on Friday, he said that the trade community should focus on quality to tap the international opportunities.

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The exports last year were $ 675 billion and till September this year the growth in exports has been 17%. The exports this year are likely to touch $750 billion, he said.

Even as he referred to Hyderabad as the `land of Covid vaccine’, Goyal said Hyderabad still continues to have influence of what he called the Mughal culture and colonial hangover. He chose to avoid mentioning Charminar while referring to Hyderabad as the `land of Bhagyalakshmi Temple’. He also used the trade platform to pitch a `double engine sarkar’ for Telangana.

Goyal asked the cotton industry stakeholders to discuss a strategy to ensure traceability of cotton and better value of cotton products. On concerns raised by the rice growers over recognising non-basmati rice varieties, he said the Centre has imposed export restrictions to ensure food security domestically.

About 90 lakh tonne food grains per month were needed for distribution under the public distribution system. The food grain production was likely to be affected due to the untimely rains in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, he said.

FTCCI President Anil Agarwal flagged the challenges faced by the micro, small, and medium enterprises. The ease of doing ranking should be outcome- based and not merely on implementation of reforms. The trade has seen supply chain disruptions. The Government’s focus should be on increasing the contribution from the manufacturing segment to the GDP.

The industry body also flagged antidumping duty, levy on export of non-basmati rice, rationalization of GST in certain pharma segments, making it mandatory for the companies getting the production linked incentives to source from small players and others.

FTCCI CEO Khyati Amol Naravane, Deputy CEO Sujata, Industrial Development Committee Chairman Srinivas Garimella and others spoke.