SME Times News Bureau | 08 Oct, 2020
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the
keynote address at Invest India Conference in Canada through video conference
on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister said India is undisputedly the
only country shining in all their investment parameters like having political stability, investment
and business friendly policies,
transparency in governance, skilled
talent pool and a large market.
He said there is an
opportunity for everyone including Institutional Investors, manufacturers,
supporters of innovation ecosystems and infrastructure companies.
The Prime Minister said in
the post-Covid world, India showed resilience
and emerged as a land of solutions to overcome various kinds of problems related to
manufacturing, supply chains, etc.
He added, despite disrupted logistics, money was
directly delivered into bank accounts of over 400 million farmers, women,
poor and needy people within a matter of days.
He listed various initiatives taken by the
Government to overcome the disruption owing to the pandemic and stressed that
this shows the strength of governance structures and
systems that have been built over the last few
years.
The Prime Minister said while the entire country
was in a stringent lockdown, India was providing medicine to around 150
countries and played
the role of the pharmacy to the world.
He added during
March-June of this year, agricultural exports rose by 23%. He said before the pandemic, India
hardly manufactured PPE kits but today not
only does India manufacture millions of PPE kits every month, it exports them
too. He committed to ramping up production and helping the entire world in
vaccine production for Covid-19.
The Prime Minister explained how India's story is growing stronger
by listing the initiatives of the Government in creating a business friendly
environment.
He listed initiatives like liberalizing the FDI regime, creating a friendly tax regime for Sovereign Wealth and Pension
Funds, bringing significant reforms for
developing a robust Bond market, Incentive
schemes for Champion sectors.
He said schemes in sectors like Pharma, Medical Devices and
Electronics Manufacturing are already in
operation.
He added for ensuring high-level attention and effective hand-holding for
investors, a dedicated Empowered Group of
Secretaries has been formed.
He emphasized proactive
monetization of assets across sectors like Airports, Railways, Highways, Power Transmission lines,
etc.
He said Real Estate
Investment Trusts and Infrastructure Investment Trusts have been fully enabled
for monetization of both public and private assets.
The Prime Minister said today India is undergoing a rapid change in mindsets as well as
markets. It has embarked on a journey of
deregulation and decriminalization of various offences
under the companies act.
He said India has risen
from 81 to 48 in the Global Innovation Index rankings and risen from 142 to 63 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing
Business rankings in the last 5 years.
The Prime Minister said due to these improvements, India
received around USD 70 Billion from Institutional Investors between January
2019 to July 2020.
This is almost equal to
that received in four years between 2013 and 2017. He stressed that continuing confidence of the global investor community in India is seen by the fact that FDI
into India went up by 20% in 2019 when global FDI inflows fell by 1%.
The Prime Minister said India
has already received over USD 20 Billion
during the first 6 months of this year from across the globe when Covid-19 has
been at peak globally. He said India has
adopted a unique approach posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said relief and
stimulus packages were given to the poor and
the small businesses and at the same time this
opportunity to undertake structural reforms which will ensure more productivity and prosperity.
The Prime Minister said India
has undertaken a trinity of reforms in the field of education, labour and
agriculture. Together, they impact almost
every Indian.
He said India has
ensured reforms of old laws in the field of labour and agriculture.
They ensure greater
participation of the private sector while also strengthening the government’s
safety nets and will lead to a win-win
situation for entrepreneurs as well as for our hard-working people. He
said the reforms in the field of education will
further harness the talent of our youth and
have set the stage for more foreign universities to come to India, he said.
The Prime Minister said the
reforms in the labour laws greatly reduce the number of Labour codes and are both employee and employer friendly and will further
increase ease of doing business.
He added the reforms in
the field of agriculture are far-reaching and
will not only give more choice to farmers but will boost exports.
He said these reforms
will support our efforts to build an AatmaNirbhar
Bharat or self reliant India and by working towards self-reliance, we seek to contribute to
global good and prosperity.
He highlighted that India is the place to partner
in the field of education, to invest in manufacturing
or services and to collaborate in the
field of agriculture.
The Prime Minister said India-Canada
bilateral ties are driven by shared democratic values and many common
interests.
He said the trade and
investment linkages between us are integral to our multifaceted relationship. He highlighted that Canada is home to some of the largest and most experienced
infrastructure investors.
He said Canadian
Pension Funds were the first ones to start investing directly in India. Many of them have already discovered great opportunities in
a range of areas like highways, airports, logistics, telecom and real estate.
He said Mature Canadian investors who have been in India for many years
now can be our best brand ambassadors. Their
experience, their plan to expand and diversify can be the most credible
evidence for other Canadian investors to come
here too. He promised no barriers for the
Canadian investors in India.