India is on path of reform, transform and perform: PM Modi to global investors

NEW DELHI: Inviting global investors to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the country was on the path of reform, transform and perform.

Addressing the Madhya Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023, PM Modi asked global players to invest in multimodal infrastructure projects and production-linked incentive schemes.

During his address, Modi outlined a number of factors which placed India among top investment destinations. He also noted that multilateral organisations across the world are optimistic about India growth story.

“The IMF sees India as a bright spot in the global economy. The World Bank says that India is in a better position to deal with global headwinds than many other countries. This is because of India’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals. OECD has said that India will be among the fastest-growing economies in the G-20 group this year. According to Morgan Stanley, India is moving towards becoming the world’s third largest economy in the next 4-5 years. The CEO of McKinsey has said that this is not only India’s decade but India’s century. Institutions and credible voices that track the global economy have unprecedented confidence in India,” he said.

“This optimism for India is driven by strong democracy, young demography and political stability. Due to these, India is taking decisions that boost ease of living and ease of doing business. Even during a once-in-a-century crisis, we took the path of reforms. India has been on the path of ‘Reform, Transform and Perform’ since 2014,” the prime minister said.

He said that the government’s efforts for achieving self-sufficiency through ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ has made India an attractive destination for investment.

“A stable government, a decisive government, a government running with the right intentions, ensures development at an unprecedented pace. Every important decision for the country is taken as fast as possible.”

Outlining reform measures of the Centre, he said that the government has removed several hurdles in the path of investment with many reforms related to recapitalization and governance in the banking sector, creating a modern resolution framework like Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, implementation of goods and services tax, making corporate tax globally competitive, exempting sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from taxes, allowing 100% FDI through the automatic route in various sectors and decriminalizing minor economic offences.

“Today’s new India is moving forward relying equally on the strength of its private sector. We have also opened up many strategic sectors like defence, mining and space for the private sector. Moreover, dozens of labour Laws have been amalgamated in 4 codes which too is a major step,” the prime minister said.

About 40,000 compliances have been done away with in the last few years and the Centre has also started the National Single Window System, which has been adopted by Madhya Pradesh too. About 50,000 approvals have been given so far under this system, he said.

He added that India is rapidly expanding in the world of manufacturing and under the PLI schemes, incentives worth more than ₹2.5 trillion have been announced. This scheme is becoming popular among manufacturers around the world, he added.

“Under this scheme, products worth about ₹4 lakh crore have been produced in different sectors so far. Hundreds of crores of rupees have been invested in Madhya Pradesh under this scheme. This scheme is also vital in making MP a major pharma hub and a huge textile hub. I urge the investors coming to MP to reap the maximum advantage of the PLI scheme,” Modi said.

Talking about the national green hydrogen mission, he said that it would create opportunities of about ₹8 trillion.

“This is an opportunity not only for India but also to meet the global demand. Incentives worth thousands of crores of rupees have been arranged under this campaign. You must also explore your role in this ambitious mission,” he said.