Noting that India was receiving a record-breaking FDI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday declared that a strong democracy, young demography and political stability in the country have resulted in international financial institutions and global investors showing strong optimism towards the country.
A stable and decisive government running with the right intentions has brought about development at an unprecedented pace, he remarked as he threw light on the last eight years during which, he claimed, the speed and scale of reforms have increased continuously.
He highlighted India’s decisions that boost ease of living and ease of doing business and said, “Institutions and credible voices that track the global economy have unprecedented confidence in India.”
The PM was addressing the Global Investors’ Summit in Indore via video message. The summit will showcase the diverse investment opportunities in Madhya Pradesh.
Giving examples of the trust shown in India by global organisations, he noted that the IMF saw India as a bright spot in the global economy while the World Bank believed India was in a better position to deal with global headwinds than many other countries. He also referred to a survey conducted by a prestigious international bank which found that a majority of the investors preferred India as their investment destination.
The PM also spoke about India’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals and mentioned in this regard the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which claimed that India would be among the fastest-growing economies in the G-20 group this year. Quoting Morgan Stanley, he said India was moving towards becoming the world’s third-largest economy in the next 4-5 years. He further added that the CEO of McKinsey has declared that not just the present decade but the century itself belonged to India.
Emphasising India’s reliance on the strength of its private sector, Modi informed that many strategic sectors like defence, mining and space have opened up for private players. He further added that dozens of labour laws have been incorporated into four codes which was a major step in itself.
He also spoke about the ”unprecedented efforts” that were under way at both the central and the state levels to reduce the burden of compliance and informed that about 40,000 compliances have been removed in the last few years. “With the onset of the National Single Window System, about 50000 approvals have been given under this system so far,” he added.
Highlighting the modern and multimodal infrastructural development in the nation that give rise to investment possibilities, the PM said the speed of construction of national highways has doubled in the last eight years along with the number of operational airports in the country.
He also touched upon the unprecedented improvement in the handling capacity and turnaround time of India’s ports. “Dedicated freight corridors, industrial corridors, expressways, logistic parks…these are becoming the identity of New India,” he added.
Throwing light on PM Gatishakti, Modi remarked that it was a national platform for infrastructure building in India which has taken the form of the National Master Plan. “We have implemented our National Logistics Policy with an aim to make India the world’s most competitive logistics market,” he added.
The PM also touched upon the digital infrastructure of the country and informed that India was ranked one in smartphone data consumption, Global Fintech, and IT-BPN outsourcing distribution. He also noted that India was the world’s third-largest aviation and auto market. Underlining the importance of the next phase of global growth, he said that on one hand, India was providing an optical fiber network to every village while on the other, it was rapidly expanding the 5G network. He noted that new opportunities were being created for every industry and consumer with the help of 5G.
Talking about the rapidly growing strength of India in the world of manufacturing, he credited the Production Linked Incentive schemes where incentives worth more than Rs 2.5 lakh crore have been announced. Noting its popularity among manufacturers around the world, he said production worth Rs four lakh crore has taken place in different sectors.
Laying emphasis on India’s aspirations regarding green energy, the PM said the government has approved the Green Hydrogen Mission a few days ago which would usher investment possibilities of about Rs 8 lakh crore. He observed that this was not just an opportunity for India to attract investments but also to meet global demands for green energy.