India will record highest ever exports in 2018-19, informed Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation at an interaction at the CII Annual Session 2019 with the theme of ‘India 5.0: India@75 and Beyond’. He said the combined merchandise and services exports could range between USD 520 - 540 billion, with services export accounting for USD 210 - 215 billion. The overall trade deficit is likely to decline by about $10 billion for the first time. Stating that India was facing headwinds in the form of global demand slowdown and rising protectionism, this is really a commendable achievement, he added.

Speaking on the economy, the Minister said India is capable of achieving double-digit growth on a sustained basis. Coordination between macroeconomic policy and action on the ground is essential for this. Laying out the strategy, he said that if each district could grow by an ‘incremental’ 3% - 4%, then India will automatically achieve double-digit growth. To achieve this goal, a pilot case study has already been started in 6 districts across 5 states in India. Reputed institutions like NCAER and IIM have been consulted to make baseline studies for these districts. The Minister said that India will become a USD 5 trillion economy in the next 7-8 years and touch USD 10 trillion by 2035.

Smaller towns and districts need to become more business friendly to have broad-based and accelerated growth noted the Minister. For this, district level ‘Ease of Doing Business’ (EoDB) ranking will soon be launched for which background work has already been started. A committee has already been formed for this purpose.

On the occasion, Shri Suresh Prabhu presented the CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Award to grassroots changemakers. The Minister said that they are the real heroes. He congratulated CII for recognizing the contribution of such changemakers and said that this ‘coalition’ of industry captains with micro entrepreneurs on the ground is already a success.

Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, President, CII, observed that non-tariff barriers must be removed among trading nations and FDI must be promoted in India in technology sectors. He stressed that India is currently negotiating the RCEP, which will bring huge gains to the industry if managed prudently.

Mr Vikram Kirloskar, Vice President, CII, said that on the export front, CII has been working on export promotion policies, FTAs, boosting services exports and marketing of Brand India overseas. The policies announced for export finance have brought great relief to exporters.