Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged firms from the United States to invest in various sectors of the Indian economy such as defence, infrastructure, health care and space research. “Today, there is global optimism towards India...this is because India offers a perfect combination of openness, opportunities and options,” Modi said in his keynote address at the India-Ideas Summit.

Modi said that India was emerging as a land of opportunities. “During the last six years, we have made many efforts to make our economy more open and reform oriented,” he added. “Reforms have ensured increased competitiveness, enhanced transparency, expanded digitization, greater innovation and more policy stability.”

Outlining the areas where the government seeks investment, Modi said: “You can see the optimism when India rises in key business ratings, particularly the Ease of Doing Business ratings of the World Bank”. India is scaling record highs in Foreign Direct Investment every year, the prime minister claimed. “Each year is significantly higher than the earlier one.”

Modi then listed out examples of what made India a lucrative destination for investment. He said the Foreign Direct Investment Inflow in India in 2019-’20 was $74 billion (Rs 5.51 lakh crore) – “an increase of 20% from the year before that”.

“India has done historic reforms in the agriculture sector recently,” he added. “The healthcare sector in India is growing faster than 22% every year. Our companies are also progressing in production of medical-technology, telemedicine and diagnostics.”

In the defence and space sector, Modi said his government is raising the FDI cap to 74%. “India has established two defense corridors to encourage production of defense equipment and platforms,” he added.

Play

“India invites you to invest in infrastructure,” Modi said. “Our nation is witnessing the largest infrastructure creation drive in our history. Come, be a partner in building housing for millions, or building roads, highways and ports in our nation.”

The prime minister said the civil aviation sector was another area of great potential growth. “The number of air passengers are expected to more than double within next eight years,” Modi added. “The top private Indian airlines plan to include over a thousand new aircraft over the coming decade.”

Modi said the US-India friendship has “scaled many heights” in the past. “Now it is time our partnership plays an important role in helping the world bounce back faster after the pandemic,” he added.

Talking about the post-coronavirus economic situation, Modi said the pandemic has taught people that the global economy has been “too focused on efficiency and optimization”. “Efficiency is a good thing,” he added. “But, on the way, we forgot to focus on something equally important. That is resilience against external shocks.”

This, he said, can be achieved by stronger domestic capacities for manufacturing, restoring the health of the financial system and diversification of international trade. “India is contributing towards a prosperous and resilient world through the clarion call of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. And, for that, we await your partnership,” Modi said.

The event is organised by US-India Business Council. The theme for this year’s India Ideas Summit is “Building a Better Future”. Those who attended it include, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, foreign minister S Jaishankar, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce and industry and railways minister Piyush Goyal and government officials from the US and India.