PM Modi invites foreign investors to invest in a “rapidly urbanising India”

NEW YORK: In his keynote speech at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited global businesses to invest in “rapidly urbanising India”. He said historic reduction in corporate tax rates by his government creates a golden opportunity and promised more measures to improve business climate. Earlier this month, the government had reduced the effective corporate tax rate to 25.17 per cent from nearly 35 per cent, thus bringing India at par with major global economies on taxation front.

He highlighted that with the corporate friendly policies recently introduced in India, we have created a golden opportunity to invest in our country. “In the coming years, we are going to spend around $1.3 trillion on modern infrastructure in India. Also, lakhs of crores of rupees are being spent on the social infrastructure of the country. Thus if you want to invest in urbanisation, come to India,” PM said.

Inviting the global business community to invest in India the PM said, “If you want to invest in a market where there is scale, come to India… If you want to invest in start-ups with a huge market, come to India…If you want to invest in one of the world’s largest infrastructure ecosystem, come to India.”

 “Your desires and our dreams match perfectly, your technology and our talent can change the world,” PM Modi told the American corporates. He further promised democracy, political stability, independent judiciary to the businesses.

“Today, there is a government in India that is working towards improving the business environment in the country. India’s decision to cut corporate tax has sent a positive message”, he said, adding that India had garnered $286 billion foreign direct investment in last five years, which is half of what it got in previous 20 years.