Cabinet Minister Piyush Goyal Takes Charge Amid Export Decline

New Delhi, Jun 11 (KNN) Bharatiya Janata Party leader Piyush Goyal has been reappointed as Cabinet Minister after winning the Mumbai North constituency in the recent elections.

In the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, Goyal will continue overseeing the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

However, he has had to relinquish other portfolios including Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles that he handled previously.

Goyal takes charge amid a 3.1 per cent decline in India's merchandise exports to USD 437 billion and a 3.5 per cent contraction in foreign direct investment inflows during 2023-24 due to global economic uncertainties.

Over the past decade, the 59-year-old Goyal has overseen a diverse range of ministries including Power, Renewable Energy, Coal, Mines, and Railways under the first National Democratic Alliance government.

In the second term, he was Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs, and Food & Public Distribution.

Inducted initially as Minister of State with Independent charge in 2014, Goyal was later elevated to Cabinet Minister rank.

He briefly held additional charge of the Finance Ministry in 2018 and 2019 during the late Arun Jaitley's absence.

A chartered accountant by profession who worked as an investment banker, Goyal led initiatives like India's first e-auction of coal mines for private commercial mining and a reform scheme for the power distribution sector during his previous tenures.

Under his watch as Commerce Minister, India also signed free trade agreements with Australia, UAE and Mauritius, and managed an out-of-court settlement of trade disputes with the US at the World Trade Organisation.

(KNN Bureau)