Structural reforms implemented by the Indian government in the past eight years will help the country emerge among the top three developed economies in the world, India’s minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal has said. He was virtually addressing the recently held 27th edition of the Wharton India Economic Forum, in the US.

Regarding the most impactful economic reforms that will pave the way for India’s growth story in the coming years, Goyal explained that a lot of structural changes that have taken place in the last eight years have had a significant impact on the way the Indian economy is poised to take off, according to a press release by the Indian ministry of commerce and industry.

Goyal spoke of the goods and services tax (GST) as one of the important reforms and highlighted that despite the challenging global scenario recent GST collections have been very robust. He also mentioned reforms such as privatisation, digitisation of the economy, particularly the financial sector, decriminalisation of laws, and simplification of compliances that enable ease of doing business.

Responding to a question regarding which sectors are strategic priorities for the government, Goyal said that infrastructure, semiconductor, and domestic manufacturing are some of the priority sectors. For domestic manufacturing, the government has introduced PLI schemes to kickstart Indian manufacturing in over 14 sectors. The minister mentioned that the government is also encouraging the private sector and industry associations to determine what types of support they need from the government.

“India’s interest is to enter into bilateral free trade agreements that are balanced and in the best interests of both countries. We are engaging with like-minded countries, particularly those with a rules-based order, transparent economic systems, and entering into agreements which are a win-win for both sides,” commented Goyal.

He said another learning has been recognising the importance of resilient supply chains. He said focus is on structural reforms, massive infrastructure development, digitisation, and the huge talent that India is offering to the world, which is helping rewrite India’s future.

“The government will continue to support manufacturing to create jobs for a large number of people, focusing on digitisation and making India a knowledge-based economy,” added Goyal. He mentioned that India did over 74 billion financial transactions digitally, which is more than Europe, the US, and China combined.