Goyal Sets USD 1 Trillion Export Target for This Year

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on 8 October 2026 that India had begun building bridges at a time when much of the world was building walls. He was speaking at the curtain raiser of the 31st CII Partnership Summit in New Delhi, which will itself be held in Visakhapatnam on 12 and 13 November. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was present.

The export target

The Minister put last year’s merchandise and services exports at USD 863 billion and said the target for the current year is USD 1 trillion. That would mean growth of close to 16 per cent in a year when world trade is expected to expand by only about 2.5 to 3 per cent and global growth is likely to stay below 3 per cent. He said the target belongs as much to the country’s businesses as to the government, naming 63 million MSMEs, large and small industry, global capability centres and about 250,000 startups. He added that the Reserve Bank of India had again raised its growth forecast for the year and that India should keep growing at over 7 per cent as the fastest-growing large economy.

Trade agreements and MSMEs

Goyal said every free trade agreement India signs shields sensitive sectors, farmers, fishermen and MSMEs, while opening markets for farm and marine produce, high-precision goods, engineering items and electronics. He asked CII to open FTA utilisation desks in each of its state councils so that smaller firms can understand rules of origin and make use of market access. He also linked the Summit’s theme to the five T’s he had set out at the 2025 edition in Visakhapatnam: Technology, Trust, Trade, Talent and Tradition.

Twenty-five years and the road to 2047

The Minister marked the Prime Minister completing 25 years as a head of government, counting from his term as Chief Minister of Gujarat that began on 7 October 2001 and continuing as Prime Minister from 26 May 2014. He recalled the Jyotigram Yojana in Gujarat, the JAM trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile, Digital India, the arrival of GST and the knitting of regional power grids into a single national grid. He noted the Prime Minister’s remark at the India Mobile Congress that Digital India has saved the country over Rs. 5 lakh crore, or more than USD 55 billion, in the last 12 years. India’s economy, now around USD 4 trillion, could reach USD 30 trillion by 2047, he said.

Andhra Pradesh

Goyal called Andhra Pradesh the country’s sunrise state, said Google’s first AI hub is coming up in Visakhapatnam and that Amaravati is turning into a quantum valley, and described the Centre and the state working together as Team India at its best.