On Friday, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal announced that the government has convened an inter-ministerial conference with trade groups to brainstorm strategies to increase manufacturing in the nation.
He reaffirmed the government’s intention to collaborate closely with businesses in order to boost competitiveness, quality, and manufacturing capacity expansion.
He announced the strategy meeting in a social media post, saying that it had brought together officials from important ministries and prominent industry groups to plan ways to increase domestic manufacturing.
As part of its efforts to increase domestic production, the Indian government is currently collaborating with the industry to pinpoint approximately 100 products, spanning the automotive, chemicals, plastics, and petrochemical sectors, that are either not manufactured in India or are manufactured inadequately. This meeting coincides with their efforts to do just that.
Due to the effect of foreign exchange outflows on the value of the domestic currency relative to the US dollar, the exercise’s stated goal is to lower the country’s import bill. On Friday, the Indian rupee was valued at 95.73 USD per USD.
Imports into the nation totalled USD 775 billion in 2025–26, up from USD 721.2 billion the previous year. Petroleum, precious metals, machinery, fertiliser, vegetable oil, chemicals, plastics, metals, transportation tools and electrical devices are some of India’s primary imports.
Some industries, notably plastics, have seen a rise in their input costs as a result of the West Asia issue.
Due to muted growth in manufacturing and nearly stagnant expansion in the power sector in the midst of the West Asia crisis, India’s industrial production growth slowed to 4.1% in March, its lowest level in five months.
At the same time, Goyal and Sarbanand Sonwal, the minister of ports, shipping, and waterways, co-chaired a meeting to discuss matters pertaining to port authorities, importers, and exporters.
Image Credit: The Hindu
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