PM Modi makes biggest pitch ever to woo US investment, promises to remove bottlenecks

New York: Making the biggest pitch to woo US investments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday courted top financial sector CEOs, outlining the opportunities in various sectors and promising to address their concerns while removing bottlenecks for ease of doing business.

Kicking off his second visit to the US in one year with a meeting with eight of the top 10 financial entities in the US, including JP Morgan and Blackstone, Modi outlined efforts made during the last 15 months to increase investment in key areas like infrastructure.

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"Roundtable with Financial Sector CEOs was a fruitful exchange of views on economic issues. Urged CEOs to invest in India in various sectors," he tweeted.

"Highlighted steps taken by Govt. To improve business environment in India & how this translated into increased FDI & investor confidence," Modi added.

In another tweet, he said the CEOs were "very interested in India's start-up sector. They appreciated steps taken by Govt. To make business easier."

A PMO statement said, Modi outlined the government's reform agenda as well as improving economic climate and said "any bottlenecks which should not be there, will not be there."

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He spoke of the ease of doing business rankings among states, that had been done by the World Bank, while noting that there was now a healthy competition among states in this area.

Highlighting liberalization of the FDI regime in sectors such as insurance, railways and defence, Modi also mentioned some specific sectors where there was great scope for innovative solutions in India, including insurance products for the agriculture sector and the health sector.

He also mentioned defence manufacturing, electronic goods manufacturing, renewable energy equipment, railways and metros, Clean India and Digital India as sectors where immense potential existed for investment.

CEOs shared their concerns as well as experiences of doing business in India, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

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The Prime Minister "took on board" suggestions made by the executives and assured them that "work is already underway" to resolve concerns of doing business and investing in India.

He outlined the sheer scale of development that will happen in India and the "tremendous opportunities" it offers to foreign institutional investors and for FDI, Swarup said. 

"The Prime Minister spoke very candidly. He outlined hisvision for India. He said any bottlenecks which should not be there will not be there," the MEA spokesman said.

Swarup said some of the concerns raised by investors are that there is still some bureaucracy left, deregulation has not been as fast as they had expected. On the REIT side they had some concerns about taxation policies, bankruptcy laws and deregulation and wanted faster pace of infrastructure development.

He added that these were not new issues and the Prime Minister is fully aware of them.

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Modi asked the CEOs to give him a detailed note on all the points and concerns raised by them to examine in detail and respond.

Making a strong pitch for increased investment in various sectors in India, the Prime Minister outlined his vision for 'Start-Up India, Stand-Up India', the PMO statement said.

He said that along with the public sector and private sector, he was laying emphasis to individual start-ups and entrepreneurs ? whom he referred to as the 'personal sector'. He said start-ups and innovation had been at the heart of the IT revolution.

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that all the CEOs at the roundtable had not only spoken about India's possibilities, but also voiced their confidence in them, the statement said, adding Modi noted that they had articulated their concerns clearly.

Highlighting the economic successes over the last 15 months of his government, he said FDI in India had increased substantially over this period, a trend contrary to what was seen across most of the world, and this showed increased investor confidence in India, the PMO said.

He said 50 million new houses by 2022, broadband connectivity for 600,000 villages, doubling of railway capacity and 175 Gigawatts of renewable energy generation were some of the concrete targets his Government had set, which created huge investment opportunities.

The GDP growth last year was 7.3 percent - among the highest in large economies world over, he said. Also, there has been a 40 percent jump in foreign direct investment (FDI).

World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Moody's say the economic climate is bound to improve further, Swarup quoted the Prime Minister as telling the hour-long meeting. 

The CEOs mentioned taxation issues and residual bureaucratic bottlenecks as some of the concerns that still existed with regard to investment in India, the PMO statement said.

The CEOs expressed appreciation for the steps taken by the Prime Minister to improve ease of doing business, and his various initiatives including his push for infrastructure development and Digital India, it added.

"Many CEOs expressed keen interest in the Indian start-up sector, and showed willingness to invest in entrepreneurial ventures and innovative start-ups," it said.

The CEOs present included Jamie Dimon, Chairman, CEO and President of JP Morgan; Steve Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and Co-founder of Blackstone; Charles Kaye, Co-CEO, Warburg Pincus of Henry Kravis, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of KKR; Bill Ford, CEO of General Atlantic; Peter Hancock, President and CEO of AIG insurance; Chase Coleman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tiger Global; and Vicki Fuller, Chief Investment Officer of NY State Common Retirement Fund.

After the meeting, Schwarzman said, "There were many suggestions to improve access to the country. The Prime Minister was very open to those suggestions."

Participants, he said, hoped India will seize the opportunity presented by a slowing Chinese economy and become the driver of world economy.

"With a growing population, they have one of the highest levels of growth in the world. They have to reform government. So, things are lining up," he said.

On a question on the reforms that the US companies would like Indian Prime Minister to take, he said: "There are various, in terms of ability of US companies to take IPOs, the ability to have more capital going to rural areas."

The much-anticipated US Fed rate hike, he said, should not have a huge impact on India.

Dimon said: "I had a great meeting. There was a constructive dialogue in the spirit of collaboration. We are looking at India trying to get foreign direct investment. Indian people should know all the people are devoted to that."

Stating that Modi is strong and has "lifted all of India", he said, "The government has already undertaken a massive amount of reforms. Key message from the US companies was keep doing what you are doing."

J P Morgan, he said, has been in India for a long time and has more than 28,000 employees.

Fuller said, "Yes I am," when asked if she is satisfied with the pace of economic reforms in India.

"Our goal is to make sure that we are seeing enough change, so that we feel we are comfortable in investing our capital. And then we would continue to watch and wait. For the amount of time he has been in office, there has been a lot of changes he has made. So clearly more to come, but as a potential investor, we are optimist," she said.