Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Tuesday, 19 May urged Indian industry and the government to deepen collaboration in advancing ease of doing business, sharpening the country's competitiveness, and accelerating the march toward Viksit Bharat 2047. Addressing the ASSOCHAM India Business Reform Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Goyal argued that prevailing geopolitical turbulence and global supply-chain disruptions represent a strategic opening — not a setback — for India.

Turning Crisis into Competitive Advantage

Goyal drew a direct line between India's past crisis management and its future potential. 'India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have never allowed a crisis to go to waste,' he said, expressing confidence that the country would convert current global risks into opportunities for growth and reform. He pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as proof of concept, noting that the disruption had accelerated digital engagement and remote working models that have since become structural strengths.

On the ongoing West Asia crisis, the minister advised businesses to remain alert to both risks and opportunities without panicking — a calibrated posture that he said had served India well through earlier shocks.

GCCs: India's Quiet Jobs Engine

One of the summit's more striking data points came from Goyal's remarks on Global Capability Centres (GCCs). Approximately 1,800 GCCs are currently operating in India, generating close to 2 million direct jobs and around 10 million indirect jobs, he noted. The minister said international companies increasingly recognise India as a trusted partner, citing the country's youthful and talented workforce as a key differentiator capable of supporting global operations at scale.

This comes amid a broader global reconfiguration of supply chains, with multinationals actively diversifying away from single-country dependencies — a shift that India's GCC ecosystem is well-positioned to absorb.

Emerging Technologies and the Services Opportunity

Goyal expressed confidence in India's services sector as a long-term engine of growth, specifically flagging Artificial Intelligence and cyber security as domains where new opportunities are emerging rapidly. He emphasised that India should view technological shifts, business reforms, and global developments as tailwinds rather than threats.

The minister also outlined the government's efforts to build an enabling ecosystem for data centres and cloud services, anchored by trusted global partnerships, low-cost data availability, renewable energy expansion, and robust power infrastructure. Notably, this signals a policy intent to position India not just as a services exporter but as a global digital infrastructure hub.

The Reform Agenda: Productivity and Efficiency

Beyond technology, Goyal stressed the need for smarter and more efficient business practices across the board — reducing waste, improving productivity, and adopting energy efficiency measures. He called for faster structural reforms and greater supply-chain resilience as non-negotiable priorities in an era of prolonged geopolitical uncertainty.

Industry bodies at the summit are expected to follow up with specific recommendations on regulatory simplification and logistics reform in the coming weeks.