Robust digital framework to be presented to the Parliament soon, says Minister
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has been encouraged by the response form US companies with plans to increase hiring and to expand their research and development, technology support systems and back offices in India.
“Numbers they are indicating in terms of their hiring plans are truly staggering,” said Goyal who has visited San Francisco and Los Angeles 5-10 Sept 2022.
After interacting with the US companies, Goyal noted that in this day and age of work from home, new opportunities have opened up for Indian youngsters, especially the young people in tier 2 and 3 cities and remote areas to provide cost-effective solutions to US companies.
Interacting with media on the side-lines of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Ministerial Meeting, Goyal said of his meeting with the Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, “Discussed further deepening of India-US trade and investment ties as we look to build resilient global supply chains.”
“They (US officials) are extremely favourable towards expanding our trade and investment including in high-tech areas and wishing to further the resilient supply chains between the two nations,” he noted.
Elaborating further on the discussions held with the US officials, Goyal said on 9 Sept 2022, “Both nations believed that we need to have self-reliance as a core philosophy and have resilient supply chains between trusted partners who believe in transparent economies and rules-based trading systems.”
Responding to a query on market access issues, Goyal said that an India-US Trade Policy Forum would soon be held during which more deliverables and newer areas of engagements would be discussed.
Taking a question on digital economy, the Minister said that he had informed his counterparts in the US that India was looking to have very contemporary and modern laws in the digital space while maintaining high levels of data privacy, particularly of Indian citizens’ personal data.
In that spirit, India is working on a more robust digital framework to be presented to the Parliament soon, he announced, adding that this policy initiative has been much welcomed by the US and businesses in India.
“India is a big provider of technology services and we have a shared interest to have a very good understanding on the laws because we have a great interest in services export too.”
Responding to a query on the upskilling initiative he launched in San Francisco, SETU (Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling), the Minister said that Indians would be its beneficiaries too with youngsters, especially girls, who have tremendous potential standing to gain from the training and upskilling being offered by the reputed firms who are part of the initiative.
“India has also extended its support to the initiative as we have some outstanding ed-tech companies and skilling initiatives in India to provide cost effective solutions.
“It was welcomed by the US,” the Minister underlined. fiinews.com
