Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged everyone to work together and to start thinking like a nation. He also called for focussed efforts from all stakeholders in order to achieve the target of a $5-trillion economy in India.
As a part of pre budget exercise, Modi interacted with various senior Economists, Private Equity/Venture Capitalists, Business Leaders from Manufacturing, Travel & Tourism, Apparel & FMCG, Analytics, subject experts in the fields of Agriculture, Science & Technology and Finance. This interaction took place at the NITI AAYOG in New Delhi.
The Union Budget for 2020-21 will be presented on February 1.
He said that open discussions and brainstorming in such forums will lead to a healthy debate and understanding of the issues. This would also foster a positive mood and “can do” spirit in the society. Stating that India is land with unlimited possibilities he requested all stakeholders to do their bit to bridge the gap between reality and perception.
He expressed satisfaction over that the fact that the two-hour long open discussion has brought to the experiences of people on the ground and those working in their respective fields to the forefront.
The Prime Minister said that the idea of $5 trillioneconomy is not a sudden development and that it is based on a deep understanding of the country’s strengths. He said that the strong absorbent capacity of Indian economy shows the strength of basic fundamentals of the Indian economy and its capacity to bounce back.
Modi said that sectors like Tourism, Urban Development, Infrastructure and Agri based Industry have a great potential to taking forward the economy and for employment generation.
The meeting was attended by Economists such as Shankar Acharya, R Nagaraj, Farzana Afridi, Venture Capitalist such as Pradip Shah, Industrialists such as Apparao Mallavarapu, Deep Kalra, Patanjali Govind Keswani, Deepak Seth, Srikumar Misra, subject experts Ashish Dhawan and Shiv Sarin were among the 38 delegates who participated in the discussions.
From Government, Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport & Highways and MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Farm Minister Narendra Tomar were present.