ATMANIRBHAR CAMPAIGN IS IN SYNC WITH GLOBALISATION: PM

Says India to soon supply vaccines to the world, more will come in time

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday invited global companies to take advantage of policy reforms initiated by his government in manufacturing, infrastructure, the digital space, and health care.

He told more than 400 industry leaders the two vaccines produced by India would be available abroad and many more would come in due course.

Interacting virtually with representatives of multinationals such as IBM, Mastercard, ABB, and Siemens at the Davos Agenda of the World Economic Forum, Modi stressed the “atmanirbhar” campaign by India would strengthen globalisation.

“Our ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ is committed to the global good and global supply chain. India has the capacity, capability, and reliability to strengthen the global supply chain,” he said.

“India’s bid for self-reliance will strengthen a new era of globalisation. The World Economic Forum will be relieved to know that in the time to come many more vaccines will come from India,” he said.

Modi said India had proved wrong doomsayers who had predicted that the country would be the worst Covidaffected one.

“They said we will face 2 million deaths, but nothing like that happened. We are among the nations that have managed to save the most number of lives and we are on our way to significantly reduce the number of active cases,” he said.

He said India not only produced kits to fight Covid-19 but also helped other countries.

Modi said India had started the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination programme and over 2.3 million health workers had been vaccinated in just 12 days.

“In the next few months, we would complete our target of vaccinating 300 million elderly citizens and people with comorbidities,” he said.

He said when the world had shut its airspace, “we brought back our citizens”.

“Also, when the airspace was closed in many countries, India took more than 100,000 citizens to their countries and delivered essential medicines to more than 150 nations,” he said.

Modi informed the world business leaders the programme to give every Indian a unique health card was in

“MANY COUNTRIES ARE LOOKING TO REPLICATE THE UPI NETWORK. DURING COVID, ~1.8 TRILLION WAS TRANSFERRED TO BANK ACCOUNTS OF BENEFICIARIES DIRECTLY”

“WORKING TO CONVERGE THE PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL WORLDS IN OUR CITIES. BY 2025, INDIA WILL HAVE 25 CITIES WITH METRO SERVICES, AND THE COUNTRY IS PROGRESSING FAST ON ELECTRIC MOBILITY AS WELL”

the works.

He said the government did not shy away from carrying out economic reforms even in the difficult period of Covid. The reforms, including decriminalising provisions of the Companies Act, reducing corporate taxes, and easing labour rules, had resulted in 13 per cent increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020 despite Covid, he said.

Speaking on the “Fourth Industrial Revolution - using technology for the good of humanity”, the prime minister said, “The atmanirbhar campaign will receive support from industry 4.0. In the last six years. India’s digital drive has become a subject of interest even for experts.”

Pointing out that industry 4.0 was based on four tools -- connectivity, automation, artificial intelligence, and real time data -- the prime minister said India had all the four.

To buttress his point, he said transactions worth ~4 trillion were made through UPI in December alone.

“Many countries are looking to replicate the UPI network. During Covid, ~1.8 trillion was transferred to bank accounts of beneficiaries directly,” he said.

He invited companies to invest in infrastructure, saying it was estimated that the infrastructure needs of the country would be around $4.5 trillion by 2040.

“The government and industry would have to achieve this goal in unison. The government is continuously working to provide a stable environment and all help,” he said.

“Projects worth $1.5 trillion will be implemented in the next five years. Logistics policy has also been contemplated. Reforms are an ongoing exercise to improve competitiveness,” Modi said.

He asked multinationals to take advantage of the production-linked scheme, which aimed at setting up manufacturing and export hubs in India.

Talking about the growth and development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMES), Modi said: “Digital-lending platforms can help MSMES get access to credit. Our effort is that MSMES should benefit from artificial intelligence. Through the government e-marketplace (GEM) 450,000 MSMES have joined in government procurement online.”

To a question on smart cities and urban India, Modi said two-thirds of the country’s economic output came from cities.

“We have a commitment to ease of living, ease of doing business, and climate-sensitive development. We are working to converge the physical and digital worlds in our cities. By 2025 India will have 25 cities with metro services, and the country is progressing fast on electric mobility as well,” he said.