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'Afraid of our talent': Minister Goyal after US H-1B shocker, sees bright sign for India's growth
Piyush Goyal, who is leading India's negotiation team to US for trade talks on Sept 22, invites Indian talent to come to home country so “we grow rapidly”
India's commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who will in the US on September 22 for the next round of talks for a trade deal amid tensions over tariffs, made remarks apparently reacting to President Donald Trump's decision to impose a hefty $100,000 fee on H-1B visas used mostly by high-skilled Indian workers to fulfil their American dream.
He prefaced it with the assertion that “different countries across the world also want to do Free Trade Agreements with India”.
“They want to increase trade with India. They want to improve relations,” he said, in a video clip from a speech that he shared on his X handle.
With a pause and smile, he added, “They are also a little afraid of our talent. We have no objection to that either.”
He exhorted the Indian talent to “come to India, innovate here, design here”. He said that will make the economy grow even more rapidly: “So we are winners, come what may.”
Also read | $100,000 H-1B visa fee takes effect: Categories not impacted
He also spoke about being “on mission mode” to make it easier for businesses in India, promoting manufacturing, and supporting international trade.
“The growth achieved was 7.8% in the first quarter,” he underlined, “It beat all economists' expectations, and we will continue to beat them right up to 2047.” The year 2047 has been set as the target year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India to become a developed nation, the buzzword being ‘Viksit Bharat’.
Also read | After tariffs and H-1B, another US spectre hangs over India: What's the next big fear?
On H-1B, the Indian government has so far said it's assessing the full impact, while PM Modi, though not speaking about this directly, has stressed that India must become more self-reliant.
The visa move comes after a series of moves by President Donald Trump that could hurt India's or Indians' prospects.
These include the high trade tariffs, over which the talks for a deal were stalled in August.
After a restart on September 16 with the visit of a US team, now Piyush Goyal will visit Washington on September 22 to accelerate the negotiations.
"The delegation plans to take forward the discussions with a view to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement," an official statement said on Saturday.
On September 16, a US delegation led by Brendan Lynch, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, met Indian officials headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal in New Delhi. The talks have been going on at least since April.
Both sides said the September 16 discussions were "positive". This came after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone, and shared some mutual praise with PM Modi, following punitive tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchases.
Whether or not Goyal's team would bring up the H1B visa fee hike, among other things, was not immediately clear.
India’s exports to the US fell to $6.86 billion in August from $8.01 billion in July, ministry data showed. Exporters have warned the full impact of higher tariffs, at 50% now, would be felt from September as the duties kicked in only at the end of August.
