NEW DELHI, March 17 (Xinhua) -- India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said Thursday the country's merchandise export is likely to cross 400 billion U.S. dollars.
"India's merchandise exports have reached almost 390 billion dollars as of March 14 and will certainly cross 400 billion dollars in the current fiscal," Goyal said while addressing the seventh technology summit 2022 in New Delhi.
Goyal said India's auto components industry had, for the first time, recorded a trade surplus of 600 million dollars.
"It may be noted that India's automotive industry is worth more than 100 billion U.S. dollars and contributes 8 percent of country's total export and accounts for 2.3 percent of India's GDP and is set to become the third-largest in the world by 2025," he said.
Goyal cautioned automakers that the cost of not investing in innovation would be inevitable obsolescence.
The minister appreciated the resilient auto industry players, and asked the automotive industry to work on improving the e-mobility ecosystem, including fuel cell vehicles with hydrogen storage, higher Lithium-Ion battery capacity at a low price and better charging infrastructure. ■