Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government understood that an environment of transparent policies and the rule of law providing a level playing field were necessary for entrepreneurship to flourish.
Inaugurating the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) here, in the presence of U.S. President’s Adviser Ivanka Trump, a couple of Union Ministers and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Mr. Modi called upon entrepreneurs from across the globe to “come, make in India, invest in India, for India and for the world.”
“I invite each one of you to become a partner in India’s growth story... assure you of wholehearted support,” he told the gathering of participants from nearly 150 countries, a good chunk from India and the U.S. Describing young entrepreneurs from India as vehicles of change and instruments of the country’s transformation, he said each of them had something valuable to contribute towards creating a new India by 2022.
Seeking to make the most of the forum that GES presented to highlight measures initiated by the government to improve business environment, towards better investor-friendly climate as well as to curb the parallel economy, tax evasion and black money, the Prime Minister said the efforts had been recognised by Moody’s recent upgrade of India government bond ratings. “This upgrade comes after a gap of almost 14 years,” he said.
The three-day GES, co-hosted by the U.S. and Indian governments, is the first in the annual series to be travelling to South Asia, has ‘Women First, Prosperity for All’ as the theme. More than 50% of the delegates are women.
Educating women
Ms. Trump underscored the importance of education and technology for women entrepreneurs to make a mark in their chosen field.
Participating in the panel discussion on “Be the change: women’s entrepreneurial leadership”, she said technology was disrupting every sphere of life. It was important to train women in digital literacy, computer science and give them access to skill training.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, elaborating the priority being given to encourage start-ups and women entrepreneurs, said that push should come from women themselves. Women’s skills were underestimated by women.
The environment in the country was conducive to promote women entrepreneurship.
(With M.L. Melly Maitreyi)
