NEW DELHI: Highlighting the improvement in economic indicators, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the ongoing recovery has been faster than expected with the situation much better than it was in March.
"We have answers as well as a roadmap. The things learnt by the nation at the time of crisis have further strengthened the resolutions of the future. The credit goes to Indian entrepreneurs, youth, farmers and citizens," Modi said while speaking at the FICCI annual general meeting. Talking about green shoots in the economy and the trust shown by investors, he said that India has seen record foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investments during the pandemic.
"The faith that the world placed on India in the last six years has further strengthened in the past few months. Be it FDI (foreign direct investment) or FPI (foreign portfolio investment)-foreign investors have made record investments in India and are continuing to do that," he said. The government, he added, has also taken many initiatives in almost all sectors to ensure reforms.
"From manufacturing to MSME, agriculture to technology, there has been all around reforms and the corporate tax is the most competitive in the world. Be it mining, defence or space new opportunities are popping up and in a vibrant economy when one sector grows it impacts others as well," Modi said.
He said that corporates will need to invest more in rural India and in small towns to drive India's growth story. "Rural India today has more active internet users than urban India, most of the start-ups are from Tier 2 and 3 cities. I request industry to invest more in rural and semi rural sector. 21st centry India’s economic growth will be powered by villages and small towns," Modi said.
on to speak about the Atmanirbhara Bharat campaign, Modi said that the government wanted "infant industries in India to become independent" and that the new Production Linked Incentive scheme would help do that in those sectors that could make India a global champion. "A decisive government reduces hurdles for others. The job of a decisive government is to contribute as much as possible to the people of the country. India has a market, manpower, and capability to work with a mission mode. During pandemic we have seen how working together can help others as well," Modi added.
The PM also defended the Centre’s recently passed agricultural reforms, which has resulted in widespread farmers protests. Modi said that this law would break barriers in agricultural and increase farmers' income. "If you place barriers, which previous governments did, an industry or sector cannot grow. The recent agriculture reforms are a part of that barrier-breaking process. We are removing the barriers within Agricultural, food processing, storage and cold chain," he said.
"Farmers will have access to new markets, their incomes will improve, the country's cold storage infrastructure wi l l modernise. The biggest beneficiaries will be country’s farmers, especially the small and marginal farmers," he added.