Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

New Delhi:

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India's foreign exchange reserves are strong and it is in a satisfactory position to meet all the needs of the country in the next 12-3 years in the worst possible circumstances. India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $55.599 billion to $52.<> billion in the week to May <>, reserve bank data showed.

Addressing the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Wednesday, Goyal said the government's efforts have helped in managing inflation and "I am happy that the Reserve Bank of India has also "recognised" this and did not change interest rates in the last monetary review meeting.

On foreign exchange reserves, he said, "We have strong foreign exchange reserves... Today, due to its foreign exchange reserves, India is in a satisfactory position to meet the needs of the next five-six years even in the worst of conditions. He said no other developing country in the world is in such a better position. This is the first time that businesses are seeing interest rates at par with developed countries.

"I believe this is an attractive case for investment, growth, expanding our international outreach, bringing technology, and bringing innovation to the country," he said.

He said India's trading partners want to expedite negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA). India is currently negotiating such agreements with Canada, EFTA (European Free Trade Association), the UK and the European Union (EU).

"This shows the growing importance of India in the global order. FTA is two-sided... I feel very sad when sometimes it is said that I (industry) want access to the EU market, but please don't allow them to do that."

The minister exuded confidence that by 2030, the country will reach usd 2 trillion exports of goods and services.



(Apart from the headline, this news has not been edited by the NDTV team, it has been published directly from the Syndicate feed.) )