India to be World's Innovation Capital & Startups to Power India’s Growth: Piyush Goyal

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal participated in the 3^rd edition of India Energy Forum 2019 by CERA Week. Piyush Goyal was part of the Indian Ministerial panel along with R. K. Singh, Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Coal and Mines. The discussions were conducted by Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer prize-winning author, speaker and energy expert.

During the discussions Commerce and Industry Minister said that India has naturally emerged as the startup capital of the world with the highest registered startups and he applauded the suo moto decision of the oil PSUs, under the Petroleum Ministry, to set up a startup fund that will encourage Indians to innovate and set up their own companies. Piyush Goyal further said that India will soon become the innovation capital of the world and informed that during his interactions with young innovators, even in the remote parts of the country, youngsters come forth with bright ideas to solve a number of economic and social problems that prevail in India today. He said that he is extremely proud of the young girls and boys who are the driving force behind the startup revolution taking place in India today.

The potential of becoming World's Innovation Hub

Commerce and Industry Minister further said that he is not worried about the state of the world in this time of trade wars as there were issues waiting to be addressed. He further added that countries of the world cannot develop when few countries are giving subsidies and nurturing an ecosystem of unfair trade and competition among industries. It is the need of the hour to have a more balanced development across the world and distributed sources of wealth creation said Piyush Goyal. There is a need for free trade but there is a greater need for fair trade said Commerce and Industry Minister as this will work in the interests of all countries and India supports the new dynamics of world trade. He further said that multilateralism will prevail and India supports all fair and honest global efforts to do away with all unfair trade practices. He further informed that India will continue to support those countries that are struggling to get manufacturing back to their own countries and hoped that the existing system of prosperous countries outsourcing their pollution and emission to the developing world, in the garb of creating jobs but in reality ruining the health of the population and destroying the future prosperity of the citizens by outsourcing problems to developing countries, must stop immediately.

Piyush Goyal also informed that by 2023 Indian railways will be fully electrified and by 2030 the Indian Railways will use only renewable and clean energy. He hoped that there will be more FDI in the energy sector as 100% FDI is allowed in this sector and there is requirement of around 70 billion USD investment in India’s energy sector which is on the cusp of a revolution as there is great demand for energy in India because the country hopes to achieve self-sufficiency in domestic production of the energy requirements for every household. During this interaction, he further informed that the India - US relations are robust with great potential to move forward and it is time for India - US relations to make a quantum leap if trade between the two countries has to reach half trillion USD.

India's Energy Potential

India is the third-largest energy consumer in the world in absolute terms, after the United States, but per capita, energy consumption is very low. There is need for a healthy mix of all commercial energy sources and India is today on the path of energy transition where 95% of households have access to electricity in the country today but there is increasing demand for energy which has to be fulfilled if India has to achieve the target of 450 megawatts set by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

During the India Energy Forum delegates from Indian and regional energy companies, institutions and governments participated in various sessions related to the energy sector in New Delhi from October 13-15, 2019.