Seemingly donning two hats, both as the Prime Minister and CEO, India, Narendra Modi on Tuesday showcased ‘Brand India’ before a global investor line-up as the “best investment destination”, which he pointed out was the result of “relentless work” of his Government.
At the 8th Vibrant Gujarat Summit, which he had conceived in 2003 as the Chief Minister to attract investments to the State, Modi dished out a slew of statistics and numbers to hard-sell India even as he stressed on his Government’s commitment to “reform the Indian economy” and laying the “highest emphasis” on making India the “easiest place for doing business”.
“India is emerging as the global Research and Development hub with the country producing the second largest number of scientists and engineers. The FDI in last two fiscals was 60 per cent higher than in previous two years and India is the leading recipient of capital in the Asia-Pacific region. India is ranked third in the list of top most prospective economies. We moved up 19 positions on the World Bank’s logistics index and India tops in providing returns to investments,” he said.
He cited India as the world’s largest construction market and the sixth largest manufacturing country with abundance of investment opportunities; talked about the country’s dream of producing a whopping 175 giga watts of renewable energy; and pointed out how despite the global slowdown India has been the bright spot and the fastest growing economy.
Modi said India is “on the threshold of becoming the most digitised economy of the world”, but interestingly, did not mention about the current demonetisation exercise carried out by him.
“It is our vision and mission to bring paradigm shift in ways of life of economy. In doing this, digital technology has played a key role. I often say that e-governance is easy and effective governance,” he maintained.
Outlining India’s strength of 3 Ds — Demography, Democracy and Demand — Modi also spoke about his ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative saying, “There is no need now to explain Make in India to the world. It has become the biggest brand India has ever had and has made the country the global investment destination.”
Speaking about the mandate given to his Government, the Prime Minister targeted the erstwhile UPA Government, though without naming it, saying, “Our Government was elected on the promise of providing clean governance ending the existing corruption and nepotism. We have seen in the last two-and-a-half-years that it is possible to deliver quick results in a democratic setup as well. We have also evolved a culture of healthy competitions among States, being rated on parameters on good governance.”
Modi pointed out that his Government was on course to achieve the ambitious target of providing a roof over every poor’s head by 2022 through the ‘Housing for All’ project.
Inviting investments and asserting that India is “moving closer global best practices”, the Prime Minister highlighted the potential and growth of sectors like entertainment, food processing, automobiles, tourism and energy among others.
The theme of the four-day 8th edition of the Summit is ‘Sustainable Economic and Social Development’. It’s the biggest so far in the event’s history with the State government expecting Rs25 lakh crore worth of investments through the signing of over 20,000 MoUs. As many as 12 countries are partnering the Summit and around 6,000 national and international delegates are participating.
The Presidents of Kenya and Rwanda, Prime Ministers of Portugal and Serbia, Deputy PM of Russia, besides Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh Vijay Rupani, Devendra Fadnavis and Pema Khandu respectively too attended the Summit.
Prior to the Summit, the Prime Minister inaugurated a trade show, and later chaired the Global CEO Roundtable on Transforming India with the likes of Executive Chairman of Cisco John Chambers, Boeing International president Bertrand Marc Allen, Suzuki Motor Corps president Toshihiro Suzuki, Tata Group’s interim chairman Ratan Tata and Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani among others in attendance.