President Ram Nath Kovind Thursday said several schemes of the central government are giving a boost to grassroots enterprise and small business in the country.

Speaking at the concluding session of the UP Investors Summit 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind said programmes such as MUDRA, Start-up India and Stand-up India are promoting grassroots enterprise and small businesses and helping integrate these with the larger economy.

He added that government's reform process seeks to make such economic changes meaningful to all segments of our society and to all regions of the country.

The President also said that, in parallel, the union government has transferred a larger share of tax revenues as well as economic and policy responsibilities to the states. Increasingly, the economic future of India is being written by states and state governments, such as that of Uttar Pradesh, he said.

He added that the recent period has been one of enormous economic changes for India – of soaring aspirations and achievements.

"The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax has been a milestone. It has broken down barriers between states. It has provided a boost to the creation of a common market and a more formal economy. Filing of taxes under GST has been made progressively smoother," he said.

The switch from cash to digital payments has been notable and has created new opportunities, he added.

The simplification of procedures for tax payers, business-persons and investors has led to India making significant advances in Ease of Doing Business, he said.

On the government’s FDI policy, he viewed that the opening of more and more sectors to greater private and global investment is encouraging.

"As a consequence of this, there has been a sharp rise in FDI in the past three years – from US$ 36 billion in 2013-14 to US$ 60 billion in 2016-17", Kovind pointed out.