India Aims ‘Top 50’ Rank Next Year in Ease of Doing Business: PM Narendra Modi

Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the implementation of GST and other measures of simplification of taxes have reduced transaction costs and made processes efficient.

Delivering his inaugural address to the ninth edition of biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit, which went underway at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Modi maintained that “India is now ready for business as never before.”

“In the last 4 years, we have jumped 65 places in the Global Ranking of World Bank’s Doing Business Report,” he pointed out adding that “but we are still not satisfied. I have asked my team to work harder so that India is in the top 50 next year.”

The Prime Minister claimed that doing business in India has become cheaper and faster through GST and other tax reforms as well as through digital processes and single point interfaces.

“From the start of business to its operation and closure, we have paid attention in building new institutions, processes and procedures,” he said adding that “all this is important, not just for doing business but also for ease of life of our people”.

“At 7.3%, the average GDP growth over the entire term of our Government, has been the highest for any Indian Government since 1991,” Modi said. “At the same time, the average rate of inflation at 4.6% is the lowest for any Indian Government since 1991,” he added. “We have worked hard to promote manufacturing to create jobs for our youth. Investments through our ‘Make in India’ initiative, have been well supported by programmes like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’,” he added further.

Dealing upon the challenges facing India, Modi said that In India the challenge is to grow horizontally & vertically. “Horizontally we have to spread benefits of development to regions & communities that have lagged behind,” he said. “Vertically we have to meet enhanced expectations in terms of quality of life & quality of infrastructure,” he added.

Speaking earlier, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited lauded the prime minister as a “Man of Action.” Remembering Mahtama Gandhi on the year of his 150th birth anniversary, Ambani said that while Gandhiji led India’s movement against political colonisation.”Today, we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonisation.”

“In this new world, data is the new oil. And data is the new wealth”, he said adding that India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indian people – and not by corporates, especially global corporations.

“For India to succeed in this data-driven revolution, we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India – in other words, Indian wealth back to every Indian.” he added further and urged the Prime Minister to make this “one of the principal goals” of his Digital India mission.

Source: ET

Image Courtesy: FPJ