Asked whether the USD 500 billion purchase plans from the US include orders India has already placed for Boeing aircraft, he said, “Everything that we are talking about is in continuation and includes what we already are purchasing.”
Even today, he said, India is importing between USD 45-50 billion from the US, and these are products which India does not produce.
“We are going to need aircraft. We are going to need engines for aircraft. We are going to need spare parts. We already have USD 50 billion worth of orders on Boeing alone for aircraft. We have orders for engines,” he added.
In addition to that, the minister said India requires spare parts.
“So, almost 80, 90 billion (dollars) is already on order for the next five years. We will actually need more than that. I read the other day that Tata plans to place some more orders. My sense is we need at least a 100 billion dollar plus only for the aviation sector, in addition to oil, LNG, LPG, and crude oil,” he said.
Further, he said the country requires cooking coal for the steel industries.
“India is already importing about 17-18 billion tonnes of cooking coal. When we reach 300 billion, which is a stated target and expansion is going on at breakneck speed in the steel industry. We’ll need 30 billion dollars per year for cooking coal alone. And all of these products I’m mentioning are already being imported since the Congress time, since the UPA was in power. Nothing new,” he said.
The demand for these goods is increasing in the world’s fastest-growing large economy, he added.
“There’s a growth of demand and consumption of all of these products. In addition, we announced in the budget that we want to promote data centres, we want to promote the AI mission, and we want to promote critical manufacturing and critical minerals processing in India. All of this will require high-quality machinery, ICT products, and Nvidia chips, as well as machinery for AI for quantum computing. Where is all of that going to come from?” he said.
He added that the most powerful technology provider is the United States.
“So, 100 billion (dollars per year) is very conservative. I think it’s extremely conservative for a country which wants to become a 30 trillion dollar economy, which India intends to,” Goyal added.
