Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 8 October delivered a virtual keynote address at the Invest India Conference in Canada.
Invest India Conference was organised with a special focus on further strengthening business ties between India and Canada.
The forum aims to give the Canadian business community a first-hand perspective of the opportunities to invest in India and showcase India as an investment destination.
Talking about Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “The India story is strong today and stronger tomorrow. Today, the FDI regime has been very well liberalised. We have created a friendly tax regime for Sovereign Wealth and Pension Funds. We have undertaken significant reforms for developing a robust Bond market.”
Prime Minister Modi further stated that India is proactively monetising assets across sectors like airports, railways, highways, and power transmission lines.
“Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) have been fully enabled to for monetisation of assets,” said PM Modi.
Focussing on decriminalisation of offences under Companies Act, PM Modi said that India is undergoing a rapid change in markets.
“India has embarked on a journey of deregulation and decriminalisation of various offences under the companies act,” PM Modi stated.
India Adopted Unique Approach to COVID-19
Taking up relief and stimulus package that was announced earlier in May, PM Modi said that India has adopted a unique approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government has given relief and stimulus packages for the poor and the small businesses, said PM Modi.
He also said that the government has also used this opportunity to undertake structural reforms.
PM Modi said that India has shown resilience and emerged as a land of solutions during the pandemic.
“In the post-Covid world, you will often hear of various kinds of problems. The problems of manufacturing, problems of supply chains, problems of PPE, etc. However, India has not let those problems be,” PM Modi said.
He further stated that India is playing the role of the pharmacy of the world and provided medicine to around 150 countries so far.
“During March-June of this year, our agricultural exports rose by 23 percent. This happened while the entire country was in a stringent lockdown,” said Prime Minister Modi.
India Ensured Labour & Agricultural Reforms: PM
Backing the agriculture and labour reform bills, Prime Minister Modi said that India has ensured reforms in the field of labour and agriculture. The reforms in the field of agriculture are far-reaching.
He also said that the reforms will not only give more choice to farmers but will also boost exports.
“They ensure greater participation of the private sector while strengthening the government’s safety nets. These reforms will lead to a win-win situation for entrepreneurs as well as hard-working people.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Talking about labour reforms, PM said that reforms in the labour laws have greatly reduced the number of labour codes.
“They are both employee- and employer-friendly and will further increase ease of doing business,” said PM Modi.
India-Canada Bilateral Ties
India and Canda have long-standing bilateral relations that are built upon shared democratic values, and many common interests.
“The trade and investment linkages between us are integral to our multi-faceted relationship,” said PM Modi.
Praising Canadian investors, the prime minister said: “Canada is home to some of the largest and most experienced infrastructure investors. Canadian Pension Funds were the first ones to start investing in India.”
“Many of them have already discovered great opportunities in a range of areas like highways, airports, logistics,” said PM Modi.
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