"I think this newly-claimed status could easily vanish, and would remain more wishful thinking if we do not grasp the opportunities as we should. And if we want to move ahead, then we have to galvanise ourselves to extraordinary speed with no time to waste," Nath said.
Delivering his inaugural address at the first meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade, Nath outlined three-pronged strategy beginning with thinking big and having the vision of a world economic power.
"If we want to be big, the first step is to think big... The next step is to define policies, determine strategies and design instruments to translate vision into practical and the final step is implementation," he said asking the Board to be critical and frank in highlighting bottlenecks.
Nath said the next five-year trade target of $500 billion will change the entire optics of India with all its economic indices undergoing change.
Noting that India had done commendably well on exports front, new chairman of the Board, leading industrialist Kumaramangalam Birla said much more was needed to be done to achieve the full potential of the country.
Birla said it was to be seen that taxes are not exported and the duty neutralisation schemes are WTO compatible as also enhance trade facilitation instruments.
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