Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India offers investors four Ds -- Democracy, Demography, Demand, and Diversity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on global companies to invest in India, saying the country has systems and companies with high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores.

Speaking at the Virtual Global Investor Roundtable 2020 on Thursday evening, PM Modi said, “A strong and vibrant India can contribute to the stabilization of the world economic order. We will do whatever it takes to make India the engine of global growth resurgence.”

The Prime Minister said India offers the investors four Ds -- Democracy, Demography, Demand, and Diversity. He said “Such is our diversity that you get multiple markets within one market. These come with multiple pocket sizes & multiple preferences. These come with multiple weather and multiple levels of development.”

Noting the several initiatives the government has taken to improve the marketing potential, the Prime Minister said that Atmanirbhar Bharat is not just a vision but a well-planned economic strategy.

“We have taken multiple initiatives to improve our manufacturing potential, we ushered in One Nation One Tax system in the form GST, one of the Lowest Corporate Tax rates and added incentive for new manufacturing, Faceless regime for IT assessment and appeal, a new labor laws regime balancing the welfare of workers and ease of doing business for the employers. Production Linked Incentive schemes in specific sectors and empowered institutional arrangement to handhold investors,” he said.

Not only manufacturing, but the Prime Minister also noted that India has taken several initiatives to grow in the financial sector.

“Some of the major steps undertaken by us include Comprehensive banking sector reforms. Strengthening of financial markets. Unified authority for the International Financial Services Centre. One of the most liberal FDI regime. A benign tax regime for foreign capital. Suitable policy regimes for investment vehicles like Infrastructure Investment Trust and Real Estate Investment Trust. Implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Financial empowerment through Direct Benefit Transfer and fin-tech based payment systems like Ru-Pay cards and BHIM-UPI,” he said.

India has an ambitious plan to invest 1.5 trillion dollars under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, he said, adding that investments should be done not just in bigger cities but also in smaller towns too.

Pointing out that the last five months have seen a 13 % rise in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows compared to last year, the Prime Minister expressed happiness that the global investor community has shown confidence in India’s future.

In his concluding remarks, the Prime Minister said that India is the place to be if one wants returns with reliability, demand with democracy, stability with sustainability, and growth with a green approach. He said India's growth has the potential to catalyze global economic resurgence.

During the event, global investors showed a keen interest in enhancing their partnership further with India.

The President and CEO of CPP Investments Mark Machin said, “The VGIR 2020 roundtable was a very productive and helpful forum which provided us insight into the government’s vision to build out the India economy and accelerate the growth of international institutional investment in India. India is key to our long-horizon investment strategy, focused on growth markets, and we have a strong appetite to build on our existing investments across infrastructure, industrial and consumer sectors”.

While talking about India, President and CEO of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) said, “India is an important market for CDPQ—we have invested several billions in sectors such as renewables, logistics, financial services and technology-enabled services—and we aim to strengthen our presence over the coming years. I’d like to sincerely thank Prime Minister Modi and his government for taking the lead on organizing this roundtable where global investors and business leaders could discuss opportunities to support a stronger economy for India.”