“Join India’s journey, India can be trusted business partner”: PM Modi invites US to invest in India

PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday highlighted India’s location, reliability and policy stability while pitching the country as a hub for global supply and value chains in the post-Covid-19 world.

“This pandemic has also shown the world that the decision on developing global supply chains should be based not only on costs. They should also be based on trust,” he said in his keynote address at the annual leadership summit organised by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

Modi also highlighted his government’s belief in delivering results so that ease of living is as important as the ease of doing business. “You are looking at a country with political stability and policy continuity. You are looking at a country with commitment to democracy and diversity,” he said.

Though China found no mention in his speech, it was apparent the Prime Minister was highlighting India as an alternative destination for trade and investment at a time when the world community is focused on developing new supply and value chains to replace those disrupted by the pandemic.

“Along with affordability of geography, companies are now also looking for reliability and policy stability. India is the location which has all of these qualities,” he said.

The “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiative is aimed at transforming India from a “passive market to an active manufacturing hub at the heart of global value chains”, he noted.

India received more than $20 billion in foreign investments during the year and Google, Amazon and Mubadala Investments had announced long-term plans for the country, he noted. The pandemic hasn’t dented the aspirations of India’s 1.3-billion population and reforms have made business easier and reduced red tape, while work was underway on the world’s largest housing programme and on boosting connectivity, he added.

The country, he said, also offers a transparent and predictable tax regime while the insolvency and bankruptcy code has reduced risk for the entire financial system. “Our comprehensive labour reforms will reduce compliance burden for employers. It will also provide social security protection to the workers,” he added.

“The continued regulatory reforms in bond markets ensure improved ease of access for investors. There are tax exemptions to sovereign wealth funds and pension funds for infrastructure investment. FDI into India rose by 20% in 2019, this when global FDI inflows fell by 1%,” he said.

Modi also highlighted the government’s efforts to contain Covid-19, saying India was among the first in creating a “responsive system of lockdowns” and to advocate the use of masks. Starting from one testing lab in January, it now has around 1,600 labs, and the country has one of the lowest death rates per million while the recovery rate is steadily rising.

Businesses have responded pro-actively, making India the second largest manufacturer of PPE kits in the world, he said. “This is in line with India’s spirit of challenging the challenge to emerge stronger. In the last few months, the nation has battled Covid, and other crises such as floods, [two] cyclones [and a] locust attack. But it has only made the people’s resolve stronger,” he said.

The government has also protected the poor, and the “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana” is among the world’s largest support systems while free food grains have been provided to 800 million people, and free cooking gas to around 80 million families. Cash support has been given to around 345 million farmers and employment to migrant workers by creating almost 200 million person-days of work.