Salient Points of PM Narendra Modi’s speech at the Business Meeting in Germany on 30 May, 2017

• It is a great pleasure to meet you all. It is an added pleasure to talk to you in the presence of an enlightened leader like Chancellor Merkel.

• Germany is among India’s most important partners both bilaterally and in the global context. I am very happy to see participation of German companies in India’s growth story.
• Germany ranks 7th among foreign investor countries in India. Major sectors attracting FDI inflows from Germany are engineering, chemicals and services. About 600 Indo-German joint ventures are presently operating in India.

• With a view to help the German companies, we have put in place a Fast Track Mechanism. A number of issues have already been resolved through this mechanism. We are doing it sincerely because we value German participation a lot.

• Due to these strengths, as said by UNIDO, India is already the 6th largest manufacturing nation in the world. To make it better, we are working hard on various enablers

• Through our ‘Make in India’ initiative, we are committed to transform India as a major player in the global value chain. Prime motive is creation of jobs and narrowing the gap between affluent and lower sections of society. Make in India has already created a strong impact.

• Germany is contributing in a big way in the success of Make in India. Particularly, India’s participation as Partner country in the Hannover Fair has given a big boost to Indo-German partnership.

• We have moved up 32 places in last two years in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum- this is highest for any country

• India also moved up 19 places on the Logistics Performance Index of 2016 of World Bank

• We have also moved up 16 places on the Global Innovation Index of WIPO in 2016

• We are 3rd among the top 10 FDI destinations listed by UNCTAD

• GST is among the most Historic reforms India has ever done- and it is going to be implemented from the next month;

• In the last two years, we have moved towards a low tax regime both on personal as well as corporate side

• We have lowered the corporate tax from 30% to 25 % particularly for new investments and smaller ventures

• Now, India has one of the most liberal FDI Policy regimes in the world. More than 90% of the foreign investment flows are under automatic route. Last week we formally decided to abolish the Foreign Investment Promotion Board which was made in 1990s to examine the FDI proposals.

• The idea is to expand the engagement of overseas investors in the Indian economy. Due to this approach, Our FDI Outlook has been ranked highly positive by various International Agencies.

• When I spoke in April 2015, our process of reform had just started. Now, I can safely say that we have completed a sizeable part of it. However, we are committed to do more and more; in a faster and better manner.

• I strongly believe that we should create institutional networks to understand and advocate such reforms.

(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)