"We will soon be ready for USD 1 trillion exports": Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 'Make in India' initiative

New Delhi [India], December 7 : Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that India will soon reach one trillion dollar exports while lauding the 'Make in India' project started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"We will soon be ready for USD 1 trillion in exports and the foundation behind this is manufacturing,'' said Vaishnaw.
Slamming the opposition for criticising the 'Make in India' project, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "When PM Modi launched 'Make in India', it was a very bold step. The opposition constantly criticised it. If you look at the manifesto of the Congress party at that time, they also talked about 'Make in India'. But when PM Modi did this, Congress criticised it".
Vaishnaw said that exports have reached USD 762 billion in the last financial year and the reason behind it is 'Make in India'.
"The success of 'Make in India', 'Design in India' and series of programmes that followed is a reason behind India's export success. The exports reached USD 762 billion in the last financial year, he added.
The minister said that the export of mobile phones has reached the 4th position in overall exports due to Make in India. He said the country has exported mobile phones worth more than eleven billion dollars in the last fiscal year.
Earlier, when tech giant Google announced that it would manufacture its Pixel smartphones in India, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the initiative was a reflection of how the entire ecosystem in the country had now matured and people had developed trust.
"Just about nine years ago, electronics manufacturing was negligible in the country. Mobile manufacturing was practically not there; almost 98 per cent of mobile phones that we used were imported. In a short time span of nine years, our PM Modi's vision of 'Digital India', 'Make in India' and 'Startup India' has established India as a trusted value chain partner," Vaishnaw said.