India To Remain World's Fastest Growing Economy For Next Two Decades: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that India will continue to remain the world’s fastest-growing major economy for the next two decades, driven by strong fundamentals, manufacturing growth, and rising global investor confidence. “My recent interactions with international investors reflected strong confidence in India's future prospects. India’s growth story has continued to draw interest from investors across the globe,” he said while speaking at the Citi India Conference 2026.

The minister also said that in the last three-and-a-half years, India has finalised nine free trade agreements (FTAs) and India will implement at least 2-3 FTAs over the next six months. “India has already implemented its FTA with Mauritius, the UAE, Australia, Oman, and EFTA bloc and another 3-4 such pacts are expected to come into force in 2027,” he said, adding that separate deals with the UK and New Zealand have been signed.

“On the 1st of June, the Oman-FTA came into effect. In the coming six months, you will see at least two or three more very substantive free trade agreements coming into effect. Over the next year, you will see us executing at least another three or four significant free trade agreements and the coming into effect of all the nine free trade agreements over the next nine to ten months,” Goyal said.

The minister also urged industry to invest long-term capital, as the early capital will obviously get the best of returns. Talking about the West Asia crisis, he said in the field of energy, the world has seen how India navigated the global crisis over the last few months. “When the world is facing severe inflation, India has been able to moderate it,” he said.