India Needs More Practical and Useful Quality Standards, Says Piyush Goyal

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday emphasised on raising quality standards in the country in order to make it to a renowned quality producer of goods and services. Attending the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry’s (FICCI) 97th Annual General Meeting and Annual Convention in New Delhi, he said that this pursuit will not only help India to be a trusted partner but also a provider of quality goods.

Goyal also urged FICCI to tap into its technical committees and appoint a representative from every industry to ensure standards are maintained.

"This way quality standards will be more practical and useful," said Goyal.

Talking about the increasing importance of India globally, the minister noted that the nation has earned the trust of the world and its businesses are increasingly becoming part of global value chains. He said that India has an important role to play for the Global South and is looked upon as the growth engine of the world.

He underscored that Viksit Bharat has to be a collaborative effort between the industry and the government. Goyal urged the industry leaders to play a more proactive role and work closely with the government in their agenda to reduce compliance burdens and decriminalise laws detrimental to businesses which will lead to improvement in ease of doing business. Underlining the importance of FICCI's role, the minister said the trade association has to be the feedback mechanism to help the centre do its job better.

Furthermore, he said that the industry should utilise the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) fund of Rs 1 lakh crore to foster innovation and create a research based ecosystem in the country.

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"The youth should be tuned to the mindset of experimenting and developing new ideas," said the minister.

During his speech, Goyal expressed hope that the government initiative to help India develop research and development ecosystem will evince interest from the industry leaders, and urged the participants to provide suggestions in making the processes to get funds outcome oriented and time efficient.

He also advocated bringing in private sector institutions to be part of the industry-academia-government partnership in fostering innovation and collaboration with the industry to meet the needs of the people and spur exports.