New Delhi :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum on Thursday (September 3), speaking on the theme of ‘US-India Navigating New Challenges,’ said: “India is a favourable destination to invest and the country has received over $20 billion of foreign investment inflows this year.”
He also said that the government has taken steps to provide banking credit, digital payments, and insurance to millions of people using world-class technology and global best practices.
Talking about the Coronavirus pandemic, he said: “India, a country with 1.3 billion people and limited resources, has one of the lowest death rates per million in the world. The recovery rate is also steadily rising,”
“The pandemic has impacted several things but it has not impacted the aspirations and of ambitions of 1.3 billion Indians. In recent months, there have been far-reaching reforms. These are making business easier and red-tapism lesser,” he further said.
While speaking about the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, he said it merges local with the global. Despite local needs, we didn’t shy away from global responsibilities.
“We ensured a constant supply of medicines to the world. We are at the forefront of vaccine research. Atmanirbhar Bharat is the transformation of the passive market into an active manufacturer. The road is full of opportunities,” he said.
He further pointed out that work is actively underway on the world’s largest housing program and that the renewable energy infrastructure is being expanded and also referred to boosting infrastructure in terms of Rail, road, and air connectivity.
He said India is creating a unique digital model to build a national digital health mission.
“We are using the best of fin-tech to provide banking, credit, digital payments and insurance to millions. All these initiatives are being taken using world-class technology and global best practices,” he said.
PM Modi said that the pandemic has shown the world that decisions on developing global supply chains should be based not only on costs. They should also be based on trust. Along with the affordability of geography, companies are now also looking for reliability and policy stability. India is the location that has all of these qualities.
Owing to these, he said, India is becoming one of the favourable destinations for Foreign Investment.
He said be it America, Europe, Australia, or the Gulf the world believes in us. We have received over 20 billion dollars of foreign investment flows during this year. Google, Amazon, and Mubadala Investments have announced long-term plans for India.
Prime Minister referred to the transparent and predictable India offers and how the system encourages and supports honest taxpayers. He said, India’s GST is a unified, fully enabled indirect tax system.
PM Modi referred to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which reduces the risk for the entire financial system. He also dwelt on the Comprehensive Labour Reforms that reduce the compliance burden for employers and how it provides social security protection to the workers.
Prime Minister discussed the importance of investment in driving growth and how India is tackling both the demand and supply side of it.
He said this is being done by making India one of the lowest tax destinations in the world and with the further incentive for new manufacturing units.
Prime Minister referred to the mandatory e-platform-based ‘faceless assessment’ and said it will go a long way in helping citizens along with the Tax-payers charter. The continued regulatory reforms in bond markets ensure improved ease of access for investors.
He said FDI into India rose by 20 percent in 2019, when the global FDI inflows fell by 1 Percent and that this shows the success of our FDI regime.
The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum aims to cover areas of bilateral cooperation, including trade and investment; strategic energy ties; India’s position in global supply chains; and collaboration in fintech, healthcare, and technology. Meanwhile, Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President, and CEO of Adobe group and Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra received the USISP Forum 2020 Leadership Award. The award recognises the exemplary vision of business leaders towards promoting U.S-India bilateral ties.
