Tag Archives: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, recently reviewed the progress of the India International Convention & Expo Centre (IICC) in Dwarka, Delhi. He also asked officials to expedite the works for completion of the Phase-1 of the project. “IICC will serve as a major economic driver helping India capture a larger share of global meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions market,” said Goyal.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently said that the services exports has touched an all-time high of around USD 250 billion (about Rs 19 lakh crore) in 2021-22. “We have achieved the USD 250 billion target despite the fact that sectors like tourism and travel was hit by the COVID pandemic” he said at a briefing. The previous highest level was USD 213 bn (Rs 16 lakh cr) in 2019-20.

An upgraded version of the Indian Railways e-ticketing website www.irctc.co.in and the IRCTC Rail Connect mobile App were virtually launched by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways; Commerce & Industry; Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution. The new versions are set to enhance passenger convenience.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Government of India, said that his department is willing to look at single-window clearances for the hotel industry. He was addressing the hotelier and restaurant community across India via a live webinar conducted by the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). “Yes, we will look at single-window clearances for licenses and simple online approvals. This can also take care of bureaucracy and corruption,” he said. The minister also responded well to the request for curbing illegal, unlicensed accommodation units in the country, especially those that are listed on OTAs. He said, “We will get this legally examined. There must be an element of registration or licensing that should be brought in for record-keeping purposes. Otherwise there is a risk of health and security. We must examine the legal implications.” The FHRAI team will now draw up specific and substantial ideas and revert to the minister.

The Ministry of Railways is considering barring private vendors and agents from booking train tickets for passengers. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has said that they are no longer needed when tickets can be booked by anyone on a mobile. “I think vendors and private agents are not needed, those who need help in buying tickets can go to “common service centres” which are run by the government,” he said in Lok Sabha, adding that he was considering barring them. Reacting to this, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) in a letter to the minister said that the proposal will affect employment generated by over 3 lakh agents network and also the revenue of IRCTC. “We would like to highlight that there are more than 100 service providers offering these services through 3,00,000 agent networks. The closure of their services will not only impact the investments are done and employment generated by these agents but will also affect the revenue of IRCTC, as there are many people in India who need assistance for booking the tickets,” Subho Ray, President, IAMAI said in the letter. IAMAI urged the minister to postpone the discussion on abolition of the service provider system of IRCTC considering the current situation around coronavirus which requires social distancing.

In the Interim Budget 2019-20, the Railways has been allocated Rs 64,587 crore. The Railways’ overall capital expenditure programme is of Rs 1,58,658 crore. This was stated by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Piyush Goyal while presenting the Interim Budget 2019-20 in Parliament. He said, “Indian Railways has experienced the safest year in its history as all Unmanned Level Crossings on broad gauge network have been eliminated”. On the introduction of the first indigenously developed and manufactured semi high-speed Vande Bharat Express, he said, “ This will give Indian passengers world-class experience with speed, service and safety. This major leap in wholly-developed technology by our engineers will give an impetus to the Make in India programme and create jobs.”

With around 250 foreign buyers and 150 exhibitors, the first-ever India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2018 was inaugurated by chief guest Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, along with Mohammed Sajid, Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicraft and Social Economy of the Kingdom of Morocco, KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism (I/C), Government of India; Navjot Singh Sidhu, Minister of Local Government, Tourism, Cultural Affairs and Museums, Government of Punjab; Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Government of Kerala and other officials.

Piyush Goyal has replaced Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu as the Minister of Railways. Goyal was the MoS (I/C) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines in the Government of India. He will reportedly get to manage his power portfolio as well. He is currently a Member of Rajya Sabha and was earlier the National Treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He headed the BJP’s Information Communication Campaign Committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party including the social media outreach for the Indian General Elections 2014. He is an all-India second rank holder Chartered Accountant and second rank holder in Law in Mumbai University. He was a well-known investment banker and he has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth. He earlier served on the Board of India’s largest commercial bank, the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.