Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed a panel of senior government officials to up the ante on economic diplomacy and rework India’s strategy on boosting exports from the country.

Share Market Live

NSE

The prime minister gave his suggestions to a panel of officials at a meeting where he and his council of ministers were given a presentation on ‘Vision for the Indian Economy’ last week. The panel comprised secretary-level officers from ministries such as commerce, finance, heavy industries and health. Sources added that the discussions between PM Modi and the panel would be used as inputs for the upcoming budget.

Sources told CNBC TV18 that the PM suggested a ‘3T strategy’ to use India’s overseas missions and embassies as tools to strengthen Indian economic diplomacy. “According to PM, the functioning of Indian missions should be judged from their ability to boost trade, tourist inflows and facilitating technology transfer to Indian companies,” a senior government official said.

To boost exports, the PM asked officers to tune India’s trade policy so that districts can be treated as export hubs. “The PM asked the panel to reach out to states and draw up district-specific export strategies,” the source added.

The PM also wanted the panel of officers to work on boosting agriculture exports and asked them to analyse the reason for the rejection of Indian farm export consignments at foreign ports. Indian farmers should be sensitised about how this could be avoided by using sustainable farming techniques.

The PM wanted greater focus on Ease of Doing Business measures at the district level. On tourism, officers were asked to draw up a strategy on popularising the Buddhist circuit amongst foreign travelers.

On its part, the officers’ panel told the PM and his council of ministers that it is working on mega investment parks for the textile sector as well as textile machinery and drawing up plans for setting up steel clusters with backward and forward linkages.​

First Published:Jan 22, 2020 6:45 PM IST