PM: India on cusp of becoming economic powerhouse, next 20 years important

New Delhi, September 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the next 20 years were more important than the last 20 in terms of making India a global economic powerhouse.

Addressing a programme marking 20 years of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit at Science City in Ahmedabad today, the PM said his 2014 goal of making India the growth engine of the world was now finding resonance among international agencies and experts.

“Today India is the fastest growing economy in the world. We are standing at a turning point where India is going to become a global economic powerhouse. Now India has to become the third largest economy in the world,” Modi said.

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was started 20 years ago on September 28, 2003, under then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.

At the event, the PM asked industrialists to focus on sectors which would help in giving new possibilities to India and momentum to the startup ecosystem, agri-tech, food processing and Shree Anna.

Talking about the growing need for institutions of financial cooperation, the Prime Minister commented on the increasing relevance of GIFT City, Gujarat. “GIFT City reflects our whole-of-government approach. Here the Centre, state and International Financial Services Centres authorities work together to create the best regulatory environment in the world. We should intensify efforts to make it a globally competitive financial marketplace,” he said.

“The next 20 years are more important than the last 20. When Vibrant Gujarat completes 40 years, India will not be far away from the centenary of its Independence. This is the time when India will have to create a roadmap that will make it a developed and self-reliant nation by 2047,” he noted. The PM also recalled “the indifference of the then Congress-led UPA government towards Gujarat”, and said “the development of Gujarat was seen from a political prism but foreign investors chose Gujarat despite intimidation”.

“This was despite no special incentive. The main attraction in Gujarat was good governance, fair and policy-driven governance, and an equal system of growth and transparency,” the PM said.