India is globally-acknowledged vibrant spot: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Sep 29: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah Friday said that India was being recognised as a “vibrant spot” across the world.

An official spokesman in a statement issued to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said that addressing the 118th annual session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on ‘Rising India: Amrit Kaal of Unprecedented Growth’ as the chief guest in New Delhi, the union home minister said, “Due to the changes brought about by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies, there is talk of ‘India’s moment’ everywhere, and India is being recognised as a ‘vibrant spot’ globally.”

Shah said that after the G20 meeting held in India under the leadership of PM Modi, a new energy had been infused not only in trade and industry but across every sector in the country.

He said that the success of G20, Chandrayaan, Mission Aditya, and 33 percent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies had infused a new energy in the entire nation.

The union home minister said that Friday’s programme was being held at the initiation of Amritkaal.

“From independence till now, the country has embarked on a 75-year journey, achieving numerous milestones in every field,” he said. “The biggest achievement in these 75 years has been that we as a country have succeeded in deepening the roots of democracy.”

Shah said that India had shown the world that governance in terms of policy was a continuous process.

He said that during the celebration of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, PM Modi had said that along with celebrating the achievements of the past 75 years, it was essential to set goals and realise where the country would be in 2047 when India marks 100 years of independence.

The union home minister said that this was why PM Modi had termed the journey from 75 to 100 years as the ‘Amrit Kal’, signifying that it’s a time to make resolutions and achieve them (Sankalp se Siddhi).

“We aim to build the India of PM Modi’s dreams so that when the country celebrates its centenary of independence, India will lead in every field globally,” he said. “India is the youngest, most populous, and has the most engineers, doctors, and technocrats in the world. It is a country with democracy and teamwork, and under the leadership of PM Modi, good policies are being formulated.”

Shah said that the PHDCCI should play a crucial role in determining the shape and direction of the country’s trade and industry in the coming years.

He said that the theme of Friday’s programme was very relevant to contemporary times.

“The PHDCCI represents over 1.5 lakh small and large industries across the country and in a way is considered as the voice of industry and trade,” the union home minister said.

He said that PM Modi had set goals to make India a fully developed nation by 2047, achieve a 5 trillion dollar economy for India by 2026, and become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027.

“To achieve these three goals, the industry will need to play a significant role. Trade and industry are the heart of the country’s economy from where the entire economy gets a boost,” Shah said.

He said that in the previous quarter, India’s economy grew at a rate of 7.8 percent, and the government was successful in maintaining inflation at a minimum level for 40 months.

The union home minister said that as per the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ advocated by PM Modi, India was leading the world in solving global problems across all sectors.

“Now the world is looking towards India in all areas including the fight against terrorism, solar alliance, green energy and many of our initiatives are guiding the world today,” he said. “In the last 9 years, under the leadership of PM Modi, India has made efforts and achieved success in transforming the country in every sector.”

Shah said PM Modi’s 9 years of governance were marked by promises, performance, and results.

He said that sincere efforts had been made to fulfill the promises made in 2014, which were now yielding excellent results.

“While India remained the 11th largest economy in the world for 10 years, under PM Modi’s leadership, we have broken this stagnation in the past 9 years, emerging as the 5th largest economy, and we are now set to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027,” the union home minister said.

 He said that the estimated GDP growth rate for the fiscal year 2023-24 was 6.1 percent, and with this achievement, India would emerge as the country with the highest growth rate across the G20.

Shah said that the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme had turned the dream of ‘Make in India’ into a reality across 14 sectors.

“Now, India has emerged as a lucrative destination for manufacturing on a global scale, and companies from around the world want to invest in India, creating numerous opportunities for us,” he said.

The union home minister said that during the period from 2004 to 2014, it was often said that the country had succumbed to policy paralysis.

“However, in the last 9 years, we have formulated several policies, and as a result, we have achieved success in improving our GDP from 2.03 trillion dollars to 3.75 trillion dollars. In 2013-14, our per capita income was Rs 68,000, which has now increased to Rs 1.80 lakh in 2022-23. In 2014, the capital expenditure was Rs 3.9 lakh crore, and the union government, under the leadership of PM Modi has increased it to Rs 10 lakh crore by 2023,” he said. “We live in a federal structure, and unless the concept of ‘Team India’ is followed, comprehensive development of this country is not possible.”

Shah said that PM Modi had promoted the concept of ‘Team India’, and the union government had increased the allocation to the states from Rs 30 lakh crore from 2004 to 2014, to Rs 100 lakh crore in the 9 years from 2014 to 2023.

“Between 2004 and 2014, tax collection was Rs 19 lakh crore, which has now increased to Rs 70 lakh crore in the 9 years from 2014 to 2023. While the country had only 74 airports in 70 years after independence, today, there are 148 operational airports. Between 2004 and 2014, 610 km of railway lines were laid, but in the last 9 years, we have laid 6565 km of railway lines. In 2014, there were a total of 91,000 km of national highways in the country, but in the last 9 years, we have constructed 50,000 km of national highways,” he said.

The union home minister said that today, the industry cannot be imagined without the internet in the country.

“Earlier, the cost per GB of internet was Rs 270, which is now available at a rate of Rs 10 per GB. In 2014, there were only 4 unicorn startups in the country. Today, with 115 unicorn startups, India is at the forefront globally. In 2014, there were 350 startups, and today, more than 1 lakh startups are contributing to our economy. Between 2004 and 2014, FDI in the country was 45 billion dollars, which has now crossed 85 billion dollars,” he said.

Shah said that India’s export of toys was 96 million dollars and the PM Modi-led government had done the work of increasing it to 326 million dollars by 2022.

He said that no one could have believed that GST could ever be implemented, but the government’s dream of implementing GST came true and due to the approach of ‘Team India’, only one decision in the GST Council was taken by voting, all other decisions were taken unanimously, irrespective of party politics.

The union home minister said that due to the political culture of collaborative thinking developed by PM Modi, the GST collection had reached Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April 2023 and the monthly average GST collection was Rs 1.69 lakh crore.

“Our foreign exchange reserves were 309 billion dollars, today they stand at 593 billion dollars,” he said/

Shah said that today India’s exports had increased, to create a favourable environment for trade and industry by increasing ease of doing business, more than 39,000 compliance requirements had been abolished under various laws and the work of converting 3400 legal provisions from criminal to civil had been done by the PM Modi-led government.

He said that there could not be a better environment than this in the country for trade and industry.

The union home minister said that in 2013-14, there were 127 crore digital transactions in the country, which increased to 12,735 crores in 2022.

“India alone accounts for 40 percent of real-time digital payments in the world. In 2014, there were 50 crore people in India who did not have a single bank account in their family. By providing them with bank accounts, PM Modi has done the work of connecting 50 crore people with the country’s economy,” he said.

Shah said that having a look at the infrastructure, earlier 11 km of road was being built in a day, and now 37 km were built in a day.

“Vande Bharat has changed the entire concept of rail travel, earlier there was a metro in 3 cities, now it is in 27 cities, and more than 10 lakh electric vehicles are on the road. Under Bharatnet, earlier only 30,000 km of cable was laid, PM Modi has done the work of providing optical fibre to every panchayat by laying 6.20 lakh km of optical fibre cables. Internet connections have increased by 230 percent in the last 8 years and by 2027, the capitals of the eight North-Eastern states would be connected to the country by rail, road, and air,” he said.

The union home minister said that the government had also revived the Land Port Authority and today trade worth Rs 42,000 crore had been conducted with all neighbouring countries through Land Port Authority.

He said that from 2004 to 2014 India experienced policy paralysis.

“After becoming PM in 2014, Modi framed many policies including National Policy on Electronics, Make in India, Startup India, Skill India, GST, Digital India, UDAN Scheme, National Quantum Mission, and National Education Policy,” Shah said.

He said that India was going to become the best education destination in the next 10 years for all the students around the world.

The union home minister said that this was the first education policy after independence which no one had opposed.

“We have made fundamental changes in the Indian Space Policy, framed the Drone Policy, and have made radical changes in the entire health structure through Ayushman Bharat. We have worked to strengthen our urban sector through the Smart City Policy. Commercial coal mining has opened up many possibilities for the exploration of our resources. Green India National Mission is attracting the entire world today and through Swachh Bharat, we have made a huge improvement in the health of the country by building more than 11 crore toilets in the country,” he said.

Shah said that India had secured its place in all the sectors that would impact the world economy in the next 25 years.

“Sectors like green hydrogen, semiconductor, electric vehicle, solar energy, defence, drones, space, mining, and green fuel ethanol are going to impact the world economy for the next 25 years. In the last 9 years, the Modi government has successfully laid a foundation in all these areas and now we have to make a place for ourselves in the world by performing in all these areas,” he said.

The union home minister said that PM Modi had worked with a vision to lay a strong foundation for India in all areas affecting the world economy for the coming 25 years.

He said that the next 25 years were very important for India’s trade and industry.

“The time has come to change both the size and scale of the Indian industry and PHDCCI should think in the direction of this initiative,” Shah said.

He said that the country’s companies would have to work toward becoming multinational and now the need of the hour is for Indian companies to become multinational.

“Along with this, we will also have to increase investment in R&D. Today we are in first place in the world in the production of pulses, milk, and jute production and if there is any country that produces the maximum number of railway engines, it is India. Apart from this, today we are in second place in the world in mobile handset production, cement, steel, and cotton production and we have also reached second place in tea production. We have reached the third position in startups and motor vehicles. This shows that if we decide, we deliver,” the union home minister said.

He said that the government had skillfully brought the banking sector out of NPA.

“A Credit Guarantee Fund Trust of Rs 9000 crore has also been created to promote MSMEs,” Shah said.

He said that PM Modi had developed a ‘Team India’ approach, and it does not mean the Government of India and the State governments.

“Every farmer of the country and every small and big industry together form ‘Team India’, and only then we will be able to reach our goal in 2047,” the union home minister said.

He said that today the ‘Amritkaal’ was beginning and it was time to take a resolution and make a roadmap for ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’.

“That is why this is the time, the right time,” Shah said.