The Indian government will be creating 10 new missions globally to drive home the message about the country preparing for greater business expansion worldwide. “We  are in the process of making a multi-pronged strategy for ensuring trillions of dollars of exports in services and merchandise, market penetration and research, and have sent our representatives to 11 countries to highlight new markets and products,” Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu said during the inauguration of the three-day CAPINDIA 2018 event.

“Brand India must be protected. Let’s focus on exports, exports, exports – locally and globally – as we should target an export-driven growth  for which you bear the responsibility,” the Minister told the international  gathering  — which comprised of the PLEXCONCIL, CHEMEXCIL, CAPEXIL and SHEFEXIL , besides a Make In India showcase featuring 700 exhibitors and 400 overseas buyers from 30 countries.

The Minister later told mediapersons that the Government is targetting exports of traditional and non-traditional Indian products – for which Rs 3,000 crores had been set aside for such sectors including the services sector like aviation, medical tourism etc — alongside action plans being prepared for them. “We are thinking of making air hubs for exports that included perishables to countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia and we are working on this strategy,” he said.

Describing world trade as being ‘under a cloud’ and urging the Indian business and industry to invest in research & development as part of their development plans with focus on different and detailed strategies, the Minister reiterated his commitment towards continuously working with the Finance Ministry to ensure that all issues affecting industry are resolved.

Even as chemical manufacture is becoming difficult globally, India continued to make rapid strides in manufacturing and exporting this worldwide because of its strong environment norms that catered to international standards, Prabhu said, adding that there is a huge potential for India to export and cater to this global demand. “Agrochemicals, which are important for food security, is one sector in which India is one of the largest producers and exporters,” he said.

Touching on the sensitive mining issue, Prabhu pointed out that much was needed to be done to “educate” society about the fact that without mining, we will not be able to produce anything at all. “Mining should be done in an manner that ensures highest environmental standards and landuse change carried out without producing greenhouse gases. We can have broad mining strategies (Pre-mining, During-mining and Post-mining) including how to use landfills…but we must adhere to required standards while creating more opportunities in the mining sector and downstream activities,” he said.

“Plastic has tremendous scope for growth. Can we have environment-friendly, biodegradable plastics?“, the  Minister queried  while stating “We need to intensify research in this regard or else we will have to resort to use of timber – thus leading to deforestation – due to not being allowed to use plastic.”

“Today is World Water Day and if forests which ensure water conservation are affected through cutting, then we will have no water. India has the +richest+ forests in the world and the highest form of biodiversity. However, groundwater level s are going down to the extent that acquifers are running dry,” he said while calling for environment-friendly practices alongside sustainable business and industrial activities.

Earlier, A Basak, Chairman, PLEXCONCIL, highlighted CAPINDIA 2018 as a very significant show for the members who are targeting to cross the US$ 8 billion mark in 2017-18. With over 30,000 plastic processing units employing over four million people pan-India, plastics exports from India has picked up pace by 16.3% growth at US$ 6,813.70 million (April 2017 to February 2018) as against US$ 5,860.95 million (in the same period in previous year), he said.

While the global export market for plastics is a huge ocean of opportunities (US$ 850 billion upwards), India’s plastics exports to the USA – the largest destination – is likely to cross the US$ 1 billion mark in 2017-18 at the current pace in efforts to target exports of US$ 8.31 billion for 2017-18, Basak said while noting that the current trend in India’s plastics exports seems highly encouraging.

Satish Wagh, Chairman, CHEMEXIL, said while its panel-wise exports were US$ 12.15 billion in 2016-17,  the Indian chemicals industry with a market size of US$ 145 billion is the seventh largest producer of agrochemicals globally and third largest producer in Asia after China and Japan.

R Veeramani, President, CAPEXIL, said the export target for CAPEXIL products is US$ 16.45 billion for 2017-18, and that the construction and mining sectors are responsible for propelling India’s overall development. CAPEXIL’s panel-wise exports grew by 19% to US$ 16.12 billion during April 2017-February 2018, as against US$ 13.52 in the corresponding period last year, he said.

S K Ghosh, Chairman, SHEFEXIL, said India’s export of SHEFEXIL products worth US$ 171.5 million in December 2017 – as against US$ 143.04 million in December 2016 – highlighted a positive growth of 19.9%.