DEHRADUN: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Uttarakhand’s first investors’ summit here saying India is the ideal investment destination in the world today with major social and economic changes sweeping the country.
Addressing the country’s top business leaders and industrial houses at ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’, Modi said the country was passing through an era of unprecedented social and economic changes at present and expressed confidence that in the coming decades India will become the engine of world economic growth.
“Fiscal deficit has come down, the rate of inflation has come down. The middle class is growing and the country is full of demographic dividend.
“In the past four years, the state and central governments together have taken over 10,000 measures, which have helped the country improve its position in the ease of doing business rankings by 42 points,” Modi said, describing the current times as the best for investors in the country.
GST is the biggest tax reform in the country post independence which has turned the country into a single market, he said.
Highlighting rapid growth in the infrastructure sector, the prime minister said 10,000 km highways have been built, which is double in comparison with what was done by earlier governments.
The aviation sector is growing at a record speed with 100 new airports and helipads coming up across the country. Type II and Type III cities are getting air connectivity.
With the high speed rail projects and metro lines in various cities and the Centre’s policy of housing for all, power for all, fuel for all and banking for all, scenario of an ideal investment destination becomes complete, Modi said.
“My message to investors is make in India but not just for Indians but for the whole world,” he said.
Describing Uttarakhand as a shining jewel in the crown of emerging new India, Modi extended an invitation to top industrial houses to invest in the state, which has taken huge strides in its development since its creation.
“The state government’s new policy on tourism, which gives it the status of an industry, is going to give a big advantage to investors coming to the state. The new policies framed by the state government like support subsidy for investors in the MSME sector will be another advantage,” he said.
With its unique blend of nature-adventure-culture and yoga, Uttarakhand has enough to stimulate the interest of investors, he said, adding that it has the potential to emerge as the country’s “Spiritual Eco Zone” (SEZ).
Noting that the states had great potential, Modi said if India is able to channelize its strength nothing can stop it from growing expeditiously.
Emphasising that the strengths of each of India’s states surpass those of many European countries, Modi said if every state recognises its strengths and develops accordingly nothing can stop the country from growing by leaps and bounds.
The Prime Minister asked the investors to expedite their projects in the state where they have an industry friendly government.
The prime minister also said that Uttarakhand has great potential in organic farming and asked investors to invest in the sector apart from food processing, agriculture and agri-business, which could help double the income of farmers.
Leading companies that spoke of their plans to invest in the state include Adani group, Mahindra group, JSW, Amul and Patanjali.
Japan, the Czech Republic and Singapore also sent their representatives for the summit. PTI
