Will have no problem in purchasing goods worth $500 bn from US in next 5 yrs: Goyal

New Delhi: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said India will have no problem in purchasing goods worth USD 500 billion from the US over the next five years, terming it a very conservative number, given that India's growing economy will generate a demand of about USD 2 trillion.

At present, he said, India could source imports worth about USD 300 billion from the US that it currently buys from other countries.

"We are even today importing 300 billion dollars of goods that can be imported from the US. We are importing from all over the world. That is going to grow up to two trillion in the next five years...I told my counterparts that look, I can assure you that there is demand in India, but you have to be competitive," he told PTI Videos in an interview.

India and the US on Saturday announced that they have finalised the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement.

According to a joint statement issued by both sides, India has expressed its intention to purchase USD 500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and coking coal over the next five years.

The commerce minister said big tech firms have announced large investments in India and, therefore, "my sense is that we will see 10 gigawatts of data centres" in the country, and for that India will need equipment, which the US can supply.

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.