Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the industry to work with the government to identify goods that can be manufactured in India to bring down reliance on imports.
Achieving the target of $1 trillion exports of goods & services this year and $2 trillion over the next five years would be the true hallmark of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Goyal said addressing the website launch ceremony of Bharatiya Vyapar Mahotsav in New Delhi on Monday.
Goods and services exports from India have reached $863 billion in FY26, nearly 5 per cent higher than the previous year, despite global challenges, the Minister noted.
Goyal said the industry must look at the import data regularly put up by the Commerce Department on its trade portal to identify opportunities for local manufacture and substitution of imports.
“You should keep an eye on what goods are being imported, you will see opportunities in that too, what things can be manufactured in India.”
Giving an example, the Minister pointed out India still depended heavily on foreign countries in sectors such as capital goods. He called upon industrial clusters, including Rajkot, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Batala and Pune to increase domestic production instead of relying on imports.
Medical devices
The Minister also highlighted the growing domestic manufacturing of medical devices and referred to a CT scan machine manufactured in Visakhapatnam, as examples of sophisticated items now being manufactured in the country. “Greater adoption of Indian-made products would increase demand and expand the scale of operations,” he said..
Goyal stressed on the need to promote domestic products and strengthen the spirit of swadeshi, noting that even small preferences for foreign goods can weaken domestic industry. As consumption grows with the expansion of the middle class, it is essential for India to meet its own requirements, otherwise imports will fill the gap, he said.
Published on May 18, 2026