The Government of India realises the importance of the role played by wealth creators and job creators and encourages them to contribute to the development story of India, said Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

Goyal was addressing investors at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in London on Tuesday. Shri Goyal was in London on a three day visit for bilateral talks with India – UK Joint Economic Trade Committee (JETCO).

Quoting Narendra Modi, Goyal said that the barriers of caste and religion are now being replaced by people who want to get out of poverty and those who can help remove poverty.

Complimenting the business community for helping roll out the inclusive agenda by creating jobs, Goyal said that the government is working on several far-reaching policies that will help investments in India. Citing an example, he said that the government will soon be announcing new labour laws that will provide flexibility to entrepreneurs.

“This has been done after due consultations with the trade unions and we are hopeful it will help address many issues”. “Wedge your way and keep the wheel moving”, exhorted Goyal.

Elaborating on the budgetary announcements, Goyal said that the budget lays out a clear directional vision of the government. There is a move towards moderating tax rates in line with global trends.

He added that India has much to offer as an investment destination including a competitive skilled manpower and a large market. He assured investors that the Government was willing to collaborate with investors, offering skilled manpower and scale to businesses. Citing an example of the nature of the Indian market, he elaborated on how the LED promoting drive has transformed India’s energy landscape in a few years.

“With an investment of just $2 billion for replacing CFLs with LED bulbs, India has made an energy saving of $7 billion annually, reaching out to 1.5 billion energy users”, he said.

Replying to a query on availability of finance in India, specially long-term infrastructure finance Goyal said that the Government is apprised of the need for building long term developmental funding institutions.

At present the cost of capital in India is high. However, the Government is open to exploring innovative ways of reducing the cost of capital. He added that there may be opportunities to collaborate and learn from UK, on the same.

Responding to a query on India’s policy on decarbonization, Goyal asserted that the level of consciousness that India has shown on this issue is perhaps the best in the world. India is home to 1/5th of the world population and yet is contributing only 2 percent to global emissions.

“Our per capital consumption of coal today is equivalent to what United State’s per capita consumption was 150 years ago” he added. In addition, “We reached out to the less developed countries offering assistance by creating global platforms, at a time when commitments on finance and technology transfer  from the developed world were limited.”

Speaking on the relations between India and UK, Goyal said that we have been strong partners and there is a huge potential to expand and strengthen this partnership. We are keen to engage with UK post Brexit and preparing for a stronger partnership post Brexit.