Modi to reassure investors about focus on growth

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Vibrant Gujarat meet here on Sunday and seek to reassure the international community and global investors about his government’s continued focus on development and economic growth of India.

Though the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit is being organised by the Gujarat government, the focus will remain on the prime minister and his speech in the inaugural session, which will be attended by US Secretary of State John Kerry. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will also attend the inaugural session.

The prime minister is expected to highlight his government’s recent endeavours to make its economic policies friendlier to domestic and overseas investors. He is likely to underscore his government’s persistent focus on reforms and call upon global investors to join the “Make in India” campaign.

With high-level business delegations from several organisations and chief executive officers of a number of multinational companies likely to attend the conclave, Modi will seek to re-emphasise that his government would remain focussed over reforms to spur economic growth.

As several hardliners within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other offshoots of the Sangh Parivar of late raised pitch on Hindutva agenda and triggered controversies on issues like conversions and re-conversions, speculation was rife if the Modi government would have to succumb to pressure from the saffron brigade and shift focus from development.

Ordinance route
In his speech at the inaugural session as well as during his interactions with Kerry, leaders of foreign delegations and CEOs, the prime minister is expected to cite the recently promulgated ordinances to ease and fast-track land acquisition, to raise limit of foreign capital in insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent and to make it mandatory to auction coal blocks to drive home the point that he remained committed to reforms, despite distractions from within and resistance from opposition parties.

He will also cite recent restructuring of the planning commission into NITI Aayog with greater scope for participation by the state governments in policy formulations.

Modi introduced the practice of holding Vibrant Gujarat meet to woo investors when he was the chief minister of the state. This will be his first summit after he took over as prime minister.

This is the first time the US will join Vibrant Gujarat as a partner country. The other partners are Australia, Canada, China, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore and South Africa.

Envoys of France and Israel and several other countries will also take part in the three-day conclave.

Kerry will emphasise the importance and future potential of US-India economic partnership, a spokesperson of the Department of State told PTI in Washington.
DH News Service