Success of the self-reliant India campaign lies on Indian industries: PM

Modi also said that taking reforms is a matter of conviction for the government

Economy is picking up pace once again and there is a newfound confidence in make-in-India initiatives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday asking the industry to up its risk-taking appetite to match with bold reforms undertaken by the government.

“We have taken bold decisions. Reforms continued even during pandemic. The government is making reforms not out of compulsion but out of conviction," he said addressing the CII's annual meeting.

Lauding the industry for its resilience during the pandemic, the Prime Minister said major responsibility for the success of the self-reliant India campaign lies on Indian industries.

Assuring all support to the industry, Modi said that India is receiving record foreign direct investment (FDI) because of reforms done in the last few years.

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“Today there is a government in the country which is ready to take the biggest risk in the interest of the nation, previous governments could not muster up the courage to take political risks,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that by rectifying the mistakes of the past, the government did away with the retrospective taxation.

This government is able to undertake difficult reforms because for this government, reforms are a matter of “conviction not compulsion”, he said.

Modi asked the Industry to take full advantage of the "atmosphere of trust" for India’s development and capabilities. Making a note of the changes in the approach of the current government and change in the ways of working of the current set-up, the Prime Minister stressed that the "new India" of today is ready to march with the new world.

"India, which was apprehensive of foreign investment at one point of time, is welcoming investments of all types today. Similarly, while tax policies used to induce despondency among the investors, the same India can now boast of the world’s most competitive corporate tax and faceless tax system. Red-tapism of the past has been replaced by a significant rise in the ease of doing business index," he said.

Similarly, rationalisation of the maze of labour laws into four labour codes; agriculture, which was treated as a mere means of livelihood, is being connected with the markets through reforms, resulted in India getting record FDI and FPI. Foreign exchange reserves are also at an all time high level, he said.

"There was a time when foreign was synonymous with better. Industry big-wigs understand the consequences of such a psychology. Situation was so bad that even indigenous brands developed with great hard work were advertised with foreign names. Today the situation is changing rapidly," the PM said.