Best time to invest in India: Narendra Modi tells investors in Bangok, explains why

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the global community that it was the best time to invest in India and made a forceful pitch to project New Delhi as one of the most favourable investment destinations on Saturday in Bangkok.

Prime Minister said India was welcoming the business community with open arms by making continuous structural improvements aimed to increase ease of doing business.

The prime minister was speaking at the Aditya Birla Group’s golden jubilee celebrations in Bangkok, on the second day of his three day Thailand visit, where he will also attend the 16th Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and hold trade negotiations under a regional economic partnership agreement.

 Watch | ‘Best time to be in India’: PM Modi’s message to investors in Bangkok

“This is the best time to be in India. Many things are rising while others are falling. Ease of doing business, ease of living, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), forest cover, patents, productivity, infrastructure are rising. While taxes, tax rates, red tapism, corruption, cronyism are falling,” Modi told the audience.

He mentioned Goods and Services Tax (GST), digital cash transfers and corporate tax reduction among the reforms powering India’s ambition to become $ 5 trillion economy in the next five years.

The prime minister noted that India jumped 79 places in the last 5 years to achieve its highest ranking of 63 on the global ease of doing business index and was among the top 10 reformers, for the third year in a row.

“GST has fulfilled the dream of economic integration of India and we want to work towards making it even more user friendly,” he added.

Prime Minister said the fact that India received $ 286 billion FDI in the last five years-- almost half of all the FDI received in the last two decades—made it clear that investors were taking “long-term call” on India, which, he said augurs well for the economy.

He added that his government was pushing to catapult the Indian economy by chasing $ 5 trillion GDP target in the next five years.

“When my Government took over in 2014, India’s GDP was about 2 trillion dollars. In 65 years it grew by 2 trillion dollars. But in just 5 years, we increased it to nearly 3 trillion dollars,” Modi said.

The prime minister said the government had committed to invest $ 1.5 trillion for developing the next-generation infrastructure in the country, which was earning a reputation for its “start-up” ecosystems and innovation.

“When India prospers, the world prospers,” the prime minister said, adding that the vision for India’s development will also lead to a better planet.

Modi arrived in Bangkok on Saturday on a three-day visit and will attend the (ASEAN)-India summit along with East Asia and the third Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) summits.

He said on Saturday that India remains committed to a comprehensive and balanced outcome of trade negotiations in RCEP and seeks balance across goods, services and investments.