Modi to hardsell India as engine of economic growth
GENEVA/NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will showcase India as one of the key engines of global economic growth and outline the reforms his administration has carried out to make Asia’s third-largest economy a seamless and more investorfriendly market at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meetings beginning in Davos on Tuesday.
Modi, who leaves for the Swiss Alps resort on Monday, will be the first prime minister to represent India at the forum in over 20 years. The last visit by an Indian prime minister to Davos was in 1997 when Deve Gowda led the Indian delegation. That visit took place as India’s economy was yet to take off, with Deve Gowda heading a weak, unstable coa- lition government and the US and Europe perceived as the main drivers of global growth.
Two decades later, as Modi prepares to address the WEF, the dramatic changes in India and on the global front could not be starker.
“The existing and emerging challenges to the contemporary international system and global governance architecture deserve serious attention of leaders, governments, policy makers, corporates and civil societies around the world,” Modi said in statement on Sunday.
“In recent years, India’s engagement with the outside world has become truly and effectively multi-dimensional covering the political, economic, people to people, security and other spheres,” Modi said. “At Davos, I look forward to sharing my vision for India’s future engagement with the international community.”
In an interview with a news channel on Sunday, Modi said India had demonstrated its economic prowess to the world, which is keen to learn about India directly. “I look at this as an opportunity. When 1.25 crore Indians received a proper ecosystem and clear policies, they started taking risk and initiative. In three and a half years, India’s turnaround from being part of the ‘fragile five’ to being a ‘bright spot’ is the result of the efforts of those 1.25 crore Indians.”
India currently is a $2.3 lakh crore economy and poised to be the fastest growing in 2018 with expected growth of 7.3%—ahead of China— according to World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report released earlier this month.