PM
delivers keynote address at India Ideas Summit
July
22, 2020
Global
economic resilience can be achieved by stronger domestic economic capacities:
PM
India
is contributing towards a prosperous and resilient world through the clarion
call of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’: PM
There
has never been a better time to invest in India: PM
India
is emerging as a land of opportunities: PM
India-US
partnership can play an important role in helping the world bounce back faster
after the pandemic: PM
Prime
Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the India Ideas
Summit today. The Summit is being hosted by the US-India Business Council
(USIBC). The theme for this year’s Summit is ‘Building a Better Future’.
Prime
Minister congratulated USIBC on its 45th anniversary this year. He thanked the
USIBC leadership for their commitment to advancing India-US economic
partnership.
Global
economic resilience through stronger domestic economic capacities
Prime
Minister talked about the need to place the poor and the vulnerable at the core
of growth agenda. He underlined that ‘Ease of Living’ is as important as ‘Ease
of Business’. He said that the pandemic has reminded us of the importance of
resilience of the global economy against external shocks, which can be achieved
by stronger domestic economic capacities. He emphasized that India is
contributing towards a prosperous and resilient world through the clarion call
of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
India
offers a perfect combination of openness, opportunities and options
Prime
Minister said that there is global optimism towards India because it offers a
perfect combination of openness, opportunities and options. He noted that in
the last six years, efforts have been undertaken to make our economy more open
and reform oriented, adding that reforms have ensured competitiveness, enhanced
transparency, expanded digitization, greater innovation and more policy
stability.
Citing
a recent report, Prime Minister said that there are more rural internet users
than urban internet users. Hailing India as a land of opportunities, he said
there are about half a billion active internet users in the country now, while
there are over half a billion more people who are being connected. He also
mentioned opportunities in the frontier technologies of 5G, Big Data analytics,
Quantum Computing, Block-chain and Internet of Things.
Extensive
opportunities to invest across sectors
Prime
Minister underlined that there are extensive opportunities to invest in a
variety of sectors in India. He talked about the historic reforms recently
undertaken in the agriculture sector and said that there are opportunities to
invest in areas including agriculture inputs and machinery, agriculture supply
chain, food processing sector, fisheries and organic produce. Noting that the
healthcare sector in India is growing faster than 22% every year and the
progress of Indian companies in production of medical-technology, tele-medicine
and diagnostics, he said that now is the best time to expand investment in
Indian healthcare sector.
Prime
Minister listed several other sectors which offer tremendous opportunities to
invest, viz. the energy sector; infrastructure creation including building
houses, roads, highways and ports; civil aviation, wherein top private Indian
airlines plan to include over a thousand new aircrafts over the coming decade,
thus opening up opportunity for any investor who chooses to set up
manufacturing facilities in India, and also through setting up of Maintenance
Repair and Operations facilities. He mentioned that India is raising the FDI
cap for investment in defence sector to 74%, two defence corridors have been
established to encourage production of defense equipment and platforms, and
added that special incentives are offered for private and foreign investors. He
also mentioned path-breaking reforms being undertaken in the space sector.
Inviting
investment in finance and insurance, Prime Minister said that India has raised
the FDI cap for investment in insurance to 49% and 100% FDI is permitted for
investment in insurance intermediaries. He noted that there are large untapped
opportunities for increasing insurance cover in health, agriculture, business
and life insurance.
Rising
investments in India
Prime
Minister talked about India’s rise in Ease of Doing Business rankings of the
World Bank. He underlined that each year, India is reaching record highs in
FDI, adding that FDI inflows in India in 2019-20 were 74 billion dollars, which
is an increase of 20% over the previous year. He highlighted that even during
the pandemic, India has attracted foreign investment of more than 20 billion
dollars between April and July this year.
Best
time to invest in India
Prime
Minister said that India has what is needed to power the global economic
recovery. He noted that India’s rise means a rise in trade opportunities with a
nation that can be trusted, a rise in global integration with increasing
openness, a rise in competitiveness with access to a market which offers scale,
and a rise in returns on investment with the availability of skilled human
resources. Calling USA and India as natural partners, he said this partnership
can play an important role in helping the world bounce back faster after the
pandemic. Reaching out to the American investors, he said that there has never
been a better time to invest in India.
New Delhi
July 22, 2020
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