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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government has successfully restored the credibility of India in the eyes of global investors, turning the sentiment of private and foreign investments positive in just 15 months.
Sharing stage with German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Indo–German Summit 2015 ‘Digitising Tomorrow Together’, organised by Nasscom and Fraunhofer India, in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Modi told a packed audience, comprising top honchos of India Inc and a German industry delegation, that his government has “always said that government has no business to do business. Hence, through PPP (public private partnerships) or otherwise we are encouraging private investments in areas where only government used to invest before.”
He pointed out that domestic financial resources are not sufficient enough to meet the country’s needs, and “to enhance the flow of foreign investments, we have liberalised FDI regime, enhanced the FDI limit in defence and insurance to 49 per cent and have also revised our FDI policy for construction and medical devices.”
Stating that the participation of 15 States and hundreds of Indian companies at the Hannover Fair in Germany will go a long way in shaping the government’s vision of manufacturing, Modi said “there is tremendous potential for India and Germany to collaborate and innovate. Germany ranks seventh among foreign investor countries in India and about 600 Indo-German joint ventures are already operating in India. However, as of today, our economic partnership remains below our full potential and we are keen to develop sectors where Germany is strong.”
Urging German companies to invest in India, Modi pointed out that one of the biggest challenges in India today, is to productively employ youth. “To meet this challenge we need to provide a huge boost to manufacturing which has stagnated for several decades contributing to 16 per cent of our GDP, which must reach 25 per cent of our GDP in the short and medium term. Therefore, we have launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative to ensure its success, besides introducing measures to improve the ease of doing business, we have also fast tracked approvals and clearances.”
Modi listed out the immense opportunities available to German companies in India, ranging from building 50 million houses, to setting up 100 smart cities, modernisation of the railway network and installation and setting up of new railway corridors; generation of 175 gigawatts of renewable energy, construction of transmission and distribution networks, national highways and bridges.
“It is the software of India that will move the hardware across the world. It is the talent of India that will master technology. It is the market of India that will motivate manufacturing. Therefore, it makes strong business sense to be in India and it makes even better business sense to Make in India,” Modi said.
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