New Delhi: India attracted a record $60 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2016-17, a testimony to the success of the far-reaching initiatives implemented by the government since taking office in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
Addressing the first Persons of Indian Origin Parliamentarians’ Conference in New Delhi, Modi also called on lawmakers from countries ranging from the US and the UK to Reunion Islands in the Indian Ocean to play the role of catalysts to boost India’s economic growth.
Some 140 members of Parliament and mayors of Indian origin from 23 countries are taking part in the two-day event through which the Modi government is hoping to leverage the Indian diaspora, update them on developments taking place in Asia’s third-largest economy and give them an opportunity to reconnect with the country of their ancestors.
Canada, Fiji, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Sri Lanka besides Malaysia, Switzerland, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago are some of the countries from where participants have registered for attendence, according to the Indian foreign ministry.
Stating that “reform to transform” was the “guiding principle” of his administration, Modi said one of his key priority since taking office had been to root out corruption. Systems and processes have been completely and irreversibly transformed, belying long-held assumptions that nothing would change in the country, he said.
“India is changing, India is transforming. India has moved far ahead and Indian hopes are at the top and you will see the result of change in every sphere,” Modi said.
Highlighting the reform measures undertaken by his government, including the goods and services tax that unified the country into a single market, Modi said changes had been introduced in various sectors of the economy—mining, fertilizer, textiles, aviation, health, defence, construction, real estate and food processing.
“It is the direct effect of such initiatives that India has received an unprecedented $60 billion in foreign direct investment in 2016-17,” Modi said, noting that India had improved its status in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings and other indicators like the Global Innovation Index. International credit rating agencies like Moody’s Investors Service have appreciated India’s reform initiatives and upgraded the country’s rating, Modi said.
To ensure the absorption of the one million young people who join India’s job market every month and assure them of employment, the government has introduced programmes like Start Up India and Skill India, he said.
Modi also outlined India’s contribution to the world—noting that Indian values of culture and civilization could guide a world gripped in increasing instability. “If there is any philosophy that can counter radicalisation, it is Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, it is Indian philosophy,” he said. The Prime Minister said India’s relationship with other countries was not one of transactional give and take, but based on humanity.
“We have no interest in exploiting anyone’s resources or taking away anyone’s territory,” he said, noting that India has always played a constructive role in the world—something the Indian diaspora could be proud of.
Besides Modi and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, the two-day event is to be addressed by President Ram Nath Kovind, senior Congress leader and chairman of the parliamentary committee on external affairs Shashi Tharoor and parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar.
Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.