NEW DELHI : Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal will hold discussions with representatives of top 100 companies on July 22 in Mumbai on ways to increase share of domestic manufacturing and boost the country’s exports, an official said.

Senior officials from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade including Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh are also expected to participate in the deliberations.

In the discussions, the Ministry would seek suggestions from the industry on ways to increase share of manufacturing in India’s GDP; increase exports of goods and services; and reforms to further unlock economic development and improve business environment, the official added.

The deliberations—Unnati Roundtable : Top 100 companies from NSE/BSE—assume significance as the country’s exports are declining due to global demand slowdown.

India’s exports contracted by 22%, the steepest decline in the last three years, to $32.97 billion in June on account of global demand slowdown, especially in the Western markets like the U.S. and Europe.

Cumulatively, exports dipped by 15.13% to $102.68 billion during April-June this fiscal. Imports too declined by 12.67% to $160.28 billion.

The growth of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4.3% in May 2023 due to a decline in the production of crude oil, natural gas and electricity, according to the data released by the government.

India’s industrial production rose to 5.2% in May from 4.5% in April 2023, mainly due to good performance by the manufacturing and mining sectors. The factory output growth measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production stood at 19.7% in May 2022, mainly due to a lower base effect.

As per the IIP data released by the National Statistical Office, the manufacturing sector’s output grew 5.7% in May 2023 against a 20.7% expansion a year ago.

Over the years, the government has taken a series of measures such as rolling out of the production linked incentive scheme and Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products scheme and reducing compliance burden for industry with a view to promote ease of doing business.