Promising more reforms to make India more attractive for foreign investments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday assured investors that he would “carefully hold” their hands and expressed hope that the GST would be rolled out in 2016.
Speaking at the India Singapore Economic Convention, Mr. Modi said India is exploring a potential partnership with Singapore’s Changi Airport for developments of two Indian airports and invited companies to join in building smart cities.
“In the last 18 months, the runways for the take-off of the economy have been made. Reforms are happening in a big way. They are now reaching to the last mile. Reform is to transform the system so that they perform. They aim at helping people realise their dreams. It means more charm on the faces and less forms in the offices. Efforts to deepen financial markets have been made,” he said.
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The Prime Minister said his government began to liberalise FDI laws soon after coming to power last year and the latest round of FDI reforms have made India the “most open economy” in the world.
“We are also conscious of last mile operational issues in such matters and we are fine tuning the norms. Recently, we further eased FDI norms, after which India is the most open economy in terms of FDI,” he added.
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While talking about 40 per cent increase in FDI and improvement in rankings like ease of doing business and world competitiveness index, Mr. Modi said, “Perceptions are turning into positive outcomes”.
“We are hopeful to roll out GST regime in 2016. The company law tribunal is being set up. FDI inflows have gone up by 40 per cent compared with previous year’s comparative period. Perceptions are turning into positive outcomes. FDI commitments are translating into reality,” he noted.
Modi also outlined 14 decisive steps taken to address regulatory and taxation concerns and said that India offers tremendous opportunities for investments, ranging from affordable housing to smart cities, railways to renewable energy.
‘Bilateral trade risen manifold’
About his two-day visit, Modi said, “My visit has been very positive and productive and I had excellent meetings with Singapore leaders. We have concluded a strategic partnership which takes the relationship to a new level.”
“We have set high level of ambitions for this relationship. Our historic ties and cultural proximity are our assets,” he said.
Noting that Singapore is India’s tenth largest trade partner globally and second largest in ASEAN, Mr. Modi said the bilateral trade has risen manifold.
“Singapore has emerged as the second largest source of FDI into India. The outward Indian FDI into Singapore has also risen in the recent times. Singapore is one of the top destinations for Indian investments. A significantly large number of companies are registered in Singapore,” he noted.