Corporate India on Thursday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech, saying it laid out a roadmap to transform the country into ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed nation) by 2047.
Apex industry bodies were particularly enthused by Modi’s call to State governments to frame attractive investment policies to woo global corporations.
Describing Modi’s longest ever Independence Day address, at 98 minutes, as “inspiring on many fronts”, industry captains committed themselves to working closely with the government to realise the ‘Viksit Bharat’ vision.
Anish Shah, President, FICCI, said, “The Prime Minister has laid out a national vision encompassing steps that would shape India’s growth, drive innovation and scale up our position as a global leader across various sectors of the economy. The Prime Minister’s vision for India reflects the aspirations of all sections of our society and would galvanise all Indians to work towards the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047.”
Sanjiv Puri, President, CII, said the standout feature of the speech was its emphasis on State-level reforms, including at the district and panchayat levels. His suggestion that even two reforms per year at the sub-national level are sufficient to transform the country is spot on, and in line with CII suggestions on governance reforms, Puri said.
Green commitment
The key takeaways from the speech include the commitment to environmentally sustainable development, green hydrogen, developing manufacturing excellence, innovation, and the quest for a technologically advanced India, especially in futuristic areas such as semi-conductors and design, he said.
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII, emphasised that realising the Prime Minister’s vision to make India a global manufacturing hub will necessitate further enhancements in ease of doing business and cost reduction, while staying committed to sustainability goals.
Prime Minister Modi’s strong appeal to state governments to contribute to India’s growth by implementing investment-friendly policies and reforms in key areas aligns with the long-standing advocacy of CII, Banerjee added.
“Industry strongly feels that the extra firepower to support India’s ascent will indeed come from building consensus with the states for undertaking next-gen reforms, especially in factors of production such as land, labour, etc., which are in the domain of states,” he said.
Deepak Sood, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM, said the initiative to rope in states to establish clear policies to attract investments would be a double-down approach for scaling up investment-led growth.
He said it was reassuring to see Prime Minister Modi conveying his resolve to make lives easier for the people of India. “Stress on minimum government interference, reforms in governance would help the nation leverage the innate strength of our people, particularly the youth, who form the majority of the human resource,’’ Sood said.
Quality control
Meanwhile, FICCI president Shah said that among the areas the Prime Minister outlined in his address, FICCI is particularly focused on those related to transforming India into a global manufacturing hub, strengthening indigenous design capabilities, improving self-reliance and technological self-sufficiency in critical segments of industry such as chips and semiconductors, as well as the need to be recognised for commitment to quality with Indian standards setting international benchmarks.
“FICCI strongly believes that India must be seen as a high-quality nation and our products must match the best in class anywhere in the world in terms of design, sustainability and service quality,” Shah said.
Sanjeev Agrawal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, described the speech as inspiring on many fronts, including India’s resilient economic structure, perfect banking system, infrastructure development, new innovations, and sports, among others.
“I firmly believe that India has become resilient and-self reliant in several sectors. The country has significantly moved towards ease of doing business and ease of living, along with showing resilience in the global economic headwinds and geopolitical developments,” he added.