With key trade deals sealed, India shifts focus to quality-driven manufacturing

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal urged manufacturers in India to make quality a top priority as New Delhi seeks to become a developed economy, powered by key free trade agreements signed in the last few months. The minister said government wants to become the third-largest economy in the next few years.

"We will have to make the culture of quality our first priority if we have to become a developed nation. We hope to become the third largest economy in the next 2-2.5 half years. India's growth story rests on three pillars: quality, sustainability, and inclusivity," Goyal said at the National Quality Council Conclave on February 23.

Goyal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has placed big focus on "quality consciousness" to make Indian products globally recognisable.

"The only way we can become globally competitive is through producing high quality goods and services. We have done 38 high quality FTAs, and 9 FTAs are done with those countries -- where we have a competitive advantage. India's exports will get a boost from FTAs, subject to high quality produce," Goyal pointed out.

To achieve that target, the minister listed few steps that the country needs to focus on, starting with the quality of the raw material and the skills of the workforce.

"We have to ensure quality right from the raw material stage. It's important to skill our workforce to reduce wastage of products. We also need to do a gap analysis in our working," he said.

"We will have to look at how to increase productivity, through process control, which will increase our productiveness. It's also important to cut down delays in testing and certification. We will do that."