New Delhi, February 17
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had a productive meeting with Soren Toft, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), and Deepak Tewari, MD, MSC Agency India.
The minister discussed vast growth potential in India's shipping and logistics sector, focusing on investments in inland container terminals, shipbuilding, maintenance, and container manufacturing.
Also, the minister deliberated on deep-sea vessel partnerships and policy reforms to enhance the nation's global maritime competitiveness while fostering growth, innovation, and self-reliance in the sector.
Earlier in the day, he also held a meeting with a delegation led by Michael Williamson, President at Lockheed Martin International.
They explored opportunities for manufacturing aircrafts in India to further strengthen the 'Make in India' initiative in the aerospace and defence sectors.
The government has introduced multiple policy measures and reforms to foster indigenous design, development, and production of defence equipment, thereby advancing self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
Significant investments are being made in defence and aerospace manufacturing, with the establishment of several defence hubs. Moreover, many global companies have already shared, or shown willingness to share, critical defence and aerospace expertise with India.
India's defence exports reached a record Rs 21,083 crore (approximately USD 2.63 billion) in the financial year 2023-24, marking a 32.5 per cent increase from Rs 15,920 crore in the previous fiscal year. Notably, defence exports have grown 31-fold over the past decade compared to 2013-14. The total value of defence production in India also increased by 17 per cent to Rs 126,887 crore in the last fiscal year.
- ANI