We have seen ups and downs, but each time India emerged stronger: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured India Inc and bankers that no inappropriate action will be taken in case of genuine commercial decisions.
Addressing annual general meeting of industry chamber Assocham here, he said: “I want to assure banking and corporate world that we have been able to overcome weakness in the system to a large extent. And so they should now take bold decisions fearlessly, invest boldly and spend undauntedly.”
In an effort to silence the critics on continuous decline of GDP growth rate, he reminded that there had been a quarter when GDP growth rate slowed down to 3.5 per cent. There were occasions when rates of headline retail inflation, core retail inflation, wholesale inflation and fiscal deficit touched 9.4 per cent, 7.3 per cent, 5.2 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.
“There were many quarters when indicators were very weak. We have seen ups and downs, but every time India not just came out from such a situation, but emerged much more stronger,” Modi said while adding that the Indian economy has the resilience to reverse the current slowdown and return to high growth trajectory.
On $5-trillion target
Talking about $5 trillion target, he said that it is not Modi’s target but of 1.3 billion people. “Today various groups, responsible to accelerate the growth, are discussing this issue with $5-trillion target in focus. Now target is backed by the conviction, he said
Reiterating government’s commitment about ₹100 lakh crore investment for infrastructure and another ₹25 lakh crore on rural economy, he said that all these will help nearly double the size of the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2024. “I am fully aware of the discussions happening around (current economic slowdown). I don’t challenge comments made on it. I try to take away positives from such discourse,” he said.
The Prime Minister highlighted that India climbed from 142nd among 190 nations on the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking to 63rd place in three years and noted that India is among the top 10 nations that have in the last three years made continuous improvement. “This hasn’t come without having to face anger and allegations from people,” he said. He also took a dig on critics by saying, “We have been told that we are corporate agents. But we are agents of 130 crore Indians.”
He said many provisions of Companies Act have been decriminalised and more amendments will follow. Also, companies facing failures have been given exit routes in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), he said. And at the same time, the interest of the labour force should also be taken care of.
SOURCE: bit.ly/390uD0S