New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the global business community that it was the best time to invest in India. Addressing an event in Bangkok, PM Modi hard sold the idea of India as one of the most favourable investment destinations in the world. He assured told a group of influential business leaders that India has is undergoing "transformative changes" becoming an attractive destination for any inverstor. PM Modi said that India had stopped working in a routine, bureaucratic manner which it was once infamous for.
The prime minister was speaking at an event to mark golden jubilee of the Aditya Birla Group's presence in Thailand. He mentioned Goods and Services Tax (GST), digital cash transfers and corporate tax reduction among the reforms.
"This is the best time to be in India. Many things are rising while others are falling. Ease of doing business, ease of living, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), forest cover, patents, productivity, infrastructure are rising. While taxes, tax rates, red tapism, corruption, cronyism are falling," Modi told the audience.
"For investment and easy business, come to India. To innovate and starting up, come to India. To experience some of the best tourist sites and warm hospitality of people, come to India. India awaits you with open arms," he said.
"When India prospers, the world prospers. Our vision for India's development is such that it also leads to a better planet," Modi said.
Talking about the reforms in India's tax regime, PM Modi said that his government is now starting face-less tax assessment procedure so that there is no scope for discretion or harassment.
"In today's India, the contribution of the hard working tax payer is cherished. One area where we have done significant work is taxation. I am happy that India is one of the most people friendly tax regimes. We are committed to further improving it even more," he said.
"All of what I have said just now makes India one of the world's most attractive economies for investment. India received 286 billion US dollar FDI in the last five years. This is almost half of the total FDI in India in the last twenty years," Modi said.
The prime minister also referred to India's dream to become a five trillion dollar economy.
"When my government took over in 2014, India's GDP was about 2 trillion dollars. In 65 years, 2 trillion. But in just 5 years, we increased it to nearly 3 trillion dollars," he said.
The prime minister arrived in Bangkok on a three-day visit on Saturday to attend ASEAN-India, the East Asia and the RCEP summits.
