Responding to questions about the rupee breaching 90 against the US dollar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India’s 8.2% second-quarter GDP growth had exceeded all projections, supported by low inflation and healthy foreign exchange reserves.
He added that capital inflows, infrastructure investment, consumer spending and other key growth drivers continue to show strong momentum. Merchandise exports, he noted, remain robust, with November’s performance more than compensating for October’s decline.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the CII IndiaEdge 2025 event in New Delhi, Goyal also hinted at further developments in India’s trade engagements with major partners. Addressing the gathering, he stressed the need to accelerate India’s manufacturing base and its supporting ecosystem to raise the sector’s share to 25% of GDP.
Goyal pointed out that agriculture grew 3.1% despite weather-related challenges, limited mechanisation and small land holdings. Warning against the “weaponisation of trade”, he called for reducing supply-chain concentration and establishing end-to-end control to ensure resilience.
He added that no single country accounts for more than 35% of global mobile-phone manufacturing, indicating that interdependence through component imports will continue to expand. Beyond the 12 planned industrial parks, he said another 100 have been proposed with states to support distributed manufacturing across the country.
