Rise of India means rise in trade opportunities with a nation you can trust: PM Narendra Modi at India Ideas Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asserted that the rise of India means a rise in trade opportunities with a nation that can be trusted. Addressing a virtual conference of the US-India Business Council's India Ideas Summit, PM Modi said, "The rise of India means: a rise in trade opportunities with a nation that you can trust, a rise in global integration with increasing openness, a rise in your competitiveness with access to a market which offers scale."

The PM thanked the US-India Business Council for inviting him to address the 'India Ideas Summit'. "I also congratulate the USIBC on its forty-fifth anniversary this year. Over the past decades, the USIBC has brought Indian and American business closer," he said.

Speaking on the FDI in India in 2019-20, the PM said, "Every year, we are reaching record highs in FDI. Each year is significantly higher than the earlier one. FDI inflows in India in 2019-20 were 74 billion dollars. This is an increase of 20 per cent from the year before that."

Inviting the US for investing across several sectors in India, PM Modi said, "The US-India friendship has scaled many heights in the past. Now it is time our partnership plays an important role in helping the world bounce back faster after the pandemic. For this vision, there are few better partners than the United States of America. India and the USA are two vibrant democracies with shared values. We are natural partners."

"When the markets are open, when the opportunity is high and the options are many, can optimism be far behind! You can see the optimism when India rises in key business ratings. Particularly the Ease of Doing Business ratings of the World Bank," added the PM.

PM Modi asked the US to invest in sectors including finance, insurance, defence, space, civil aviation, infrastructure, energy, healthcare, agriculture, and technology. "India invites you to invest in finance and insurance. India has raised FDI cap for investment in insurance to 49 per cent. Now 100 per cent FDI is permitted for investment in insurance intermediaries. India invites you to invest in defence and space. We are raising the FDI cap for investment in the defence sector to 74 per cent. India has established two defence corridors to encourage the production of defence equipment and platforms," stated the PM.

He also said, "Civil Aviation is another area of great potential growth. The number of air passengers is expected to more than double within the next 8 years. The top private Indian airlines plan to include over a thousand new aircraft over the coming decade. India invites you to invest in infrastructure. Our nation is witnessing the largest infrastructure creation drive in our history. Come, be a partner in building housing for millions, or building roads, highways and ports in our nation."

The PM added, "India invites you to invest in energy. As India evolves into a gas-based economy, there will be big investment opportunities for US companies. There are also big opportunities in the clean energy sector. India invites you to invest in healthcare. The Healthcare sector in India is growing faster than 22 per cent every year. Our companies are also progressing in production of medical-technology, telemedicine and diagnostics."

"India has done historic reforms in the agriculture sector recently. There are investment opportunities in: Agricultural inputs and machinery, Agriculture supply chain management, Ready-to-eat items, Fisheries and Organic produce," he added.

PM Modi also said, "Opportunities in technology also include opportunities in the frontier technologies of 5G, Big data analytics, Quantum computing, Block-chain and Internet of things. India is emerging as a land of opportunities. Let me give you one example of the tech sector. Recently, an interesting report came out in India. It said for the first time ever, there are more rural internet users than even urban internet users."

"During the last six years, we have made many efforts to make our economy more open and reform-oriented. Reforms have ensured increased ‘Competitiveness’, enhanced ‘Transparency’, expanded ‘Digitization’, greater ‘Innovation’ and more ‘Policy stability’. Today, there is global optimism towards India. This is because India offers a perfect combination of openness, opportunities and options. Let me elaborate. India celebrates openness in people and in governance," the PM said.

India is contributing towards a prosperous and resilient world through the clarion call of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and, for that, we await your partnership, said PM Modi. "Global economic resilience can be achieved by stronger domestic economic capacities. This means improved domestic capacity for manufacturing, restoring the health of the financial system and diversification of international trade. Recent experience has taught us that the global economy has been too focused on efficiency and optimization. Efficiency is a good thing. But, on the way, we forgot to focus on something equally important. That is resilience against external shocks," he said.

"We all agree that the world is in need of a better future. And, it is all of us who have to collectively give shape to the future. I firmly believe that our approach to the future must primarily be a more human-centric one," he added.