Mumbai, 19 October 2023
Commerce cannot function without shipping and making India a prosperous nation cannot be possible unless the maritime sector develops at a fast pace, stated Union Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal at the Maritime Excellence Achievers’ and Valedictory Session of Global Maritime India Summit (GMIS), 2023, in Mumbai today.
While congratulating the awardees, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Maritime Excellence Achievers’ awardees have helped to catalyse innovation in the maritime sector and make it a vibrant part of Indian economy, a contributor to India’s growth in international trade.
Speaking about how Commerce Ministry is complemented by Shipping Ministry, Union Minister Piyush Goyal stated that when PM Narendra Modi had given a target to increase exports to more than 400 billion dollars, both Commerce and Shipping Ministries worked together and the PSW Ministry under the leadership of Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, achieved in almost doubling the capacity of major ports in the country, reducing the turn-around time to below 24 hours, increasing cargo handling in national waterways to almost four times.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal stated that India’s merchandise exports in a short span of two years increased from 293 billion dollars in 2020-21 to 450 billion dollars in 2022-23, due to the collective efforts of the Centre, State Governments, PSUs, ports and other stakeholders, thereby recording a 55% in two years’ time span and enabling India to become a significant contributor to international trade. “We have set a target for ourselves to increase merchandise exports to a trillion dollars by 2030”, he said. He expressed confidence about creation of an enabling infrastructure for achieving this. He added that the target is to go beyond this in the Amrit Kaal and to become a developed economy by 2047, with a GDP of about 35 trillion dollars by 2047.
He said that GMIS is an opportunity to develop ideas and a new vision for the sector, encourage investment from across the world and invigorate within the system a confidence needed for progress and growth of the sector. The agenda and wide variety of discussions held in various sessions offer an ocean of opportunities for investors in the maritime sector. The success story of India’s significant demand and demographic dividend can be completed only when the maritime sector leverages it. He urged participants of the maritime sector not to lose sight of the opportunities that India’s growth story will provide in the coming 30 years. The Government’s vision for Ports for Prosperity, Ports for Progress is bringing transformational changes at the ground level, which is testified by a record investments of 2.37 lakh crores committed on second day of the Summit, he added.
Union PSW and AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, MoS (PSW and Tourism) Shripad Naik, MoS (PSW) Santanu Thakur, MoS (WCD and AYUSH) Mahendrabhai Munjpara, Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare in Government of Maharashtra Sanjay Bansode, Ports, Shipping and Waterways Secretary TK Ramachandran were present amongst the dignitaries.
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