Come, invest, make in India for world: Narendra Modi

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday invited global entrepreneurs to invest in India, saying that his government has undertaken a host of taxation and other reforms to create an investor-friendly environment.

Speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017, being attended by US President Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, Mr Modi said his government had scrapped over 1,200 outdated laws, eased 87 rules for foreign investment in 21 sectors, and taken several processes online.

He said efforts by his government to improve the business environment have resulted in a jump in India’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index from 142 to 100 in three years. Besides, global credit rating agency Moody’s had upgraded India’s sovereign bond rating. “To my young entrepreneur friends from India, I would like to say — each of you has something valuable to contribute towards creating a New India by 2022. You are vehicles of change and instruments of India’s transformation.

“To my entrepreneur friends from across the globe, I would like to say: ‘Come, Make in India, Invest in India — for India, and for the world’. I invite each one of you to become a partner in India’s growth story. And once again assure you of our wholehearted support,” he said.

An investment-friendly environment needs to be stable from the macroeconomic perspective, he said, adding that his government has succeeded in containing the fiscal and current account deficits as well as curbing inflation.

He said India’s foreign reserves have crossed $400 billion, and the country continues to attract large foreign capital flows. Referring to the theme of the three-day conference, “Women  First, Prosperity for All”, Mr Modi said: “In Indian mythology, a woman is an incarnation of Shakti — the goddess of power. We believe women’s empowerment is vital to our development.”

Mr Modi said Indian women have contributed significantly in various walks of life, and at present four of the oldest high courts in India were headed by women judges.

“Our sportswomen have done the country proud. This very city of Hyderabad is home to Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Sania Mirza, who have brought laurels to India,” he said.

Referring to economic reforms, Mr Modi said that the taxation system has been overhauled with the launch of GST, while the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has been introduced to ensure timely resolution of bad loans in the banking system. “We have recently strengthened this further, preventing wilful defaulters from bidding for stressed assets,” he said. “Tough measures have been adopted to tackle the parallel economy, check tax evasion and control black money.”

The government, he said, understands an environment of transparent policies and the rule of law providing a level playing field are necessary for entrepreneurship to flourish. He said Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric-based digital database, now covers over 1.15 billion people and digitally authenticates over 40 mn  transactions daily.

“We now digitally provide monetary benefits of various government schemes to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer using Aadhaar,” he said. Mr Modi listed out various business friendly measures by his government and said loans worth Rs 4.28 lakh crores have been sanctioned under the entrepreneurship scheme Mudra. Besides, he said, under the “Atal Innovation Mission”, “Tinkering Labs” are being opened in more than 900 schools to promote culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

On financial inclusion, he said almost 300 million bank accounts, with deposits of over Rs 685 billion, have been opened through the Jan Dhan Yojana. “This brings previously unbanked sections of society into the formal financial system. Of these, 53 per cent accounts are of women.” Mr Modi added: “We are steadily working towards a less cash economy and have launched a Unified Payment Interface app called Bhim. In less than a year, this platform is facilitating almost 280,000 transactions daily.”