Key Points of PM’s address at Economic Times Global Business Summit

Shri Narendra Modi ji, Hon’ble Prime Minister at Economic Times Global Business Summit said that India is a 2 trillion dollar economy today and asked if we can dream of an India with a 20 trillion dollar economy. He said that India would soon be witnessed as a country of opportunities, unmatched across the world. He further emphasized that the government must nurture an eco-system where the economy is primed for growth and this growth promotes all-round development. He verbalized that this development has to be employment-generating and employment should be enabled by skills. He further said that these skills should be synced with production and production should be benchmarked to quality, and this quality should meet global standards where these global standards drives prosperity. This is the concept of “economic good governance and all round development” which is inevitable for our country to be a role model for growth. Going forward, he said that development has to result in jobs. What we need is not just more production, but mass production and production by masses. Further, he said that the ultimate objective of subsidies should be to empower the poor, to break the cycle of poverty, and become foot-soldiers in our war on poverty. Therefore what is needed is to cut subsidy leakages, not subsidies themselves. Speaking on governance he said that our government systems suffer from two weaknesses. They are complex and are slow. Thus he emphasized that our systems need to be made sharp, effective, fast and flexible to make it more effective. Speaking on reforms he said that reforms are not an end in itself. Reforms must have a concrete objective. He talked of major institutional reform of setting up of NITI Aayog which is a way forward to transform India. He said that the government is committed to achieving the fiscal target announced in the budget and informed the audience that India’s cooking gas subsidy is the world’s largest Cash Transfer Programme. He highlighted that the Indian economy is 100% banked country and assured the Public Sector Banks that they will have total autonomy in taking business decisions. He asserted that the government has arrived at consensus with States for amending the Constitution to implement GST which is a major breakthrough. Shri Narendra Modi ji highlighted that the citizens of the nation must understand the Clean Ganga program, as an economic activity also and the railway stations can become growth points for the nearby villages. He added that he intend to launch a massive National Program for PDS Computerization and would link farmers to global markets in the coming times. Warm regards, Dr. S P Sharma