“The figures up to July or August that I last saw, there is a significant bump-up in the FDI flows,” Goyal told the audience that included the biggest names of India’s startup and technology world. “Having said that, I certainly believe we need to continuously evolve our processes so we are looking at both FDI and FII flows and how we can make it easier for money to flow into the country.”
He said the world has seen the resilience, stability and confidence with which India is steering its path, and wants to do business with the country “in an increasing manner.”
“Our exports have grown even in the first six months of this year, and I assure each and every one of you, we’re going to close FY26 with higher growth than last year. So, India is well on the path to continue to do well,” Goyal said. India’s goods and services exports in FY25 hit an all-time high of $825 billion. In the first six months of FY26, merchandise exports were $220.12 billion.
The government is also working on the second leg of the startup fund of funds worth ₹1 lakh crore, which will largely focus on deep tech innovations and startups.
The Centre is leaning toward allowing funding support from pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to startups on the lines of western economies.”I think we are all pretty much convinced that we’ll have to look at supporting the startup ecosystem, or our innovation ecosystem in different ways,” he said. “I agree with you that one of the methods could be our large pool of capital with insurance companies and pension funds or provident fund capital being also deployed, particularly giving us a huge amount of success stories that our startups are seeing.”Startups have become part of India’s investing fabric, Times Internet chairman Satyan Gajwani had said earlier in his opening remarks. He pointed out that startups had raised ₹1 lakh crore across 33 IPOs since 2021.
In his address, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal responded to the public scrutiny of its IPO pricing, saying he did not see criticism as a bad thing. “It is important to listen to another’s point of view but at the same time have your own,” Bansal said.
Goyal told the audience that more important than the level of US tariffs would be the edge that India would have, he said.
“Every agreement stands on comparative advantage to other nations,” Goyal said. “The important thing is not the amount of tariff. The important element will be – what will be the comparative advantage India will have over its competitors?”
The US has imposed a 50% tariff on Indian exports, of which 25% is a penal levy for buying Russian energy. The two sides are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA), the first part of which they aim to conclude soon.
“Tariffs are not paid by the Indians, they are paid by the Americans,” Goyal said. “So really, the negotiation is always to find that competitive edge which will help us grow our business. We have an ambitious target with the United States – to double our engagement on goods and services to about $500 billion by 2030. That is about half a trillion out of the $2 trillion that we want to do globally, and I think we will be well positioned to achieve that.”
The issue wasn’t the magnitude of the trade accord, he said.
“I don’t think it’s a question about big or small, it’s a question about our national interest. Wherever we get a good deal, a fair deal, an equitable deal, India will be ready to put signature on paper,” Goyal said.
He said various trade pacts are nearing the finish line.
“I think we are at an advanced stage of discussions, both with the European Union and the US, probably also conclude Oman and New Zealand very soon,” he said, adding that Chile is keen to conclude a trade pact quickly. “So I think almost all these five FTAs would run parallelly. Let’s see how the dates and days pan out but very good progress is being made.”
Emphasising that India now negotiates trade deals with developed nations and advanced economies, he said the country wants to sit at the high table and contribute to the future of others as it would like them to contribute to Viksit Bharat 2047.
China, Press Note 3
Goyal said the government is open to engaging with industry and China to loosen investment scrutiny. For instance, Press Note 3 mandates government approval for FDI from an entity in a country that shares a land border with India, such as China.
India has been engaging with China for years and a freeze had set in after clashes at the frontier.
“Now that the border dispute is largely taken care of, we have had the defence minister and foreign minister visit China,” he said. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi also had a meeting as part of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit. If things get normalised, it’ll be good for everybody.”
The situation keeps evolving, the minister said.
“We have an open mind, and with an open mind, we will see, we will engage with industry and other ministries, possibly also engage with China, and then decide whether we can loosen the investment scrutiny,” Goyal said.
“We have to engage with different countries based on different situations,” he said, adding that possibly India wouldn’t have been as keen on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Chile and Peru if it wasn’t for the critical minerals that they have to offer.
“And our own interest is to have resilient supply chains for our rare earth requirements, so we continue to see the evolving situation around the world and decide our trading strategies,” he said.
However, the minister said that “there is absolutely no rethinking” on India joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. India had exited the RCEP in 2019 after concerns related to the high trade deficit with China remained unresolved despite entering negotiations in 2013.
The RCEP bloc comprises 10 Asean group members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam. It also includes their five free trade agreement (FTA) partners – China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
