The IMF sees India as a "bright spot" in the global economy, PM Narendra Modi stated
Institutions and credible voices that track the global economy have unprecedented confidence in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday. In a video message at the Madhya Pradesh Global Investors Summit, Prime Minister Modi pointed out that the IMF sees India as a "bright spot" in the global economy. He added that the World Bank had earlier said that India is in a better position to deal with global headwinds than many other countries. Crediting this to India's strong macroeconomic fundamentals, he went on to say that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had stated that India will be among the fastest-growing economies in the G-20 group this year. Quoting Morgan Stanley, Prime Minister Modi said that India is moving towards becoming the world's third-largest economy in the next 4-5 years. “Institutions and credible voices that track the global economy have unprecedented confidence in India ... global investors also share the same optimism,” he remarked. He continued by referring to a survey carried out by a prestigious international bank, which found that a majority of the investors preferred India as their investment location. "Today, India is receiving record-breaking FDI. Even your presence among us reflects this sentiment," PM Modi said. He credited the strong democracy, young demography and political stability of India for the strong optimism that is shown towards the nation. He also highlighted the decisions that boost ease of living and ease of doing business. India an attractive destination for investment The Prime Minister noted that India has become an attractive destination for investment where the path of 'Reform, Transform and Perform' has been undertaken by India since 2014. “Even during a once-in-a-century crisis, we took the path of reforms”, he said. “A stable government, a decisive government, a government running with the right intentions, shows development at an unprecedented pace”, the Prime Minister remarked as he threw light on the last eight years where the speed and scale of reforms have only increased continuously. He also referred to the extraordinary efforts being made at both the centre and state levels to lessen the burden of compliance and said that during the past several years, nearly 40,000 compliances had been removed. Highlighting the modern and multimodal infrastructural developments in the nation that give rise to investment possibilities, the Prime Minister informed that the speed of construction of National Highways has doubled in the last 8 years along with the number of operational airports in the country. The Prime Minister also touched upon the unprecedented improvement in the handling capacity and turnaround time of India's ports. “Dedicated freight corridors, industrial corridors, expressways, logistic parks, these are becoming the identity of New India”, Prime Minister Modi said. He also discussed the nation's digital infrastructure, noting that India leads the world in terms of smartphone data usage, global fintech, and IT-BPN outsourcing distribution. He added that India is the third-largest aviation and automotive market in the world. Next stage of global growth PM Modi emphasized the significance of the next stage of global growth by stating that, while India is rapidly expanding its 5G network, it is also supplying optical cable to every town. He maintained that 5G, the Internet of Things, and AI are opening up new prospects for every sector of the economy as well as consumers, and that this will only quicken India's rate of growth. Prime Minister Modi underlined India's rapidly expanding industrial prowess and expressed appreciation for the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, wherein benefits worth more than Rs 2.5 lakh crore have been granted. He highlighted India's ambitions for green energy and announced that the government approved the Green Hydrogen Mission a few days ago, opening up the possibility of roughly Rs 8 lakh crore in investment. He pointed out that India has a chance to both attract investments and satisfy the need for green energy throughout the world. Prime Minister Modi also asked the investors to consider their involvement in this grand undertaking, since incentives totaling hundreds of crores have been set up for this initiative.