India on way to becoming $5 trillion economy: PM Narendra Modi in Mumbai

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed confidence that the country's economy is fast moving towards becoming a USD 5 trillion economy over the next few years.

The Prime Minister said that ''sustained, comprehensive and holistic development'' were the drivers of the economic growth.

PM Modi made these remarks after Inaugurating the first mega global investors summit ''Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018" in Mumbai.

Speaking at the occasion, PM Modi said, ''the country is on the firm path of development simultaneously with the development of the states.''

"We are working towards becoming a member of the Five Trillion Dollar club," he added.

We believe potential, policy, planning and performance leads to progress: PM Narendra Modi in Mumbai pic.twitter.com/1xaFJzbtMT — ANI (@ANI) February 18, 2018

Hailing Maharashtra, the PM said that it would soon become the first state in the country to become a Trillion Dollar economy.

He said this while addressing a robust gathering of over 200 captains of Indian and global companies at Bandra Kurla Complex here.

Modi noted that his government has taken a slew of measures to ensure all-round development of the country with an ecosystem comprising a development-friendly, investor-friendly governance with minimal governmental interference.

''Most of the states are now policy-driven, governance is performance-driven with full accountability, a transparent ecosystem, various norms are being eased, the government is changing laws where needed, and scrapped more than 1,400 old or outdated laws, and for new or modified laws, care is being taken to ensure they are simplified,'' he said.

In recent years, various states have also competing among themselves to attract maximum foreign investments as per their needs and requirements, including Assam, he said.

On Maharashtra, Modi said during the past three years, this state has initiated unprecedented measures to lure foreign investors on all fronts, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"The state's reforms have transformed business, huge improvements in its rating in Ease of Doing Business, changed the work culture, problems are being resolved in a time-bound manner, de-bottle-necking has been achieved with inter-departmental cooperation, all of which have reflected on its development," he said.

He added that last year Maharashtra led other states on various parameters in infrastructure development rankings, it got 51 percent of all FDI in India, during the Make In India initiative of February 2016, it secured more than Rs 400,000 crore investments and work on half of them is underway.

Besides, the state has initiated mega-infrastructure projects like Navi Mumbai International Airport, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, 350-km of Metro Rail and similar Metro Rail in other cities like Pune and Nagpur, taking up the 700-km Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway, etc, which will create between two to two-and-half million jobs and give a fillip to rural development.

Modi also cited the various measures and budgetary provisions to construct roads, bridges, metro rails and airports across the country, to help realize "the aspirations of the people" and fulfill the vision of a 'New India'.

During the summit, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced plans to launch the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' in the state with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore and collaboration of over 20 global conglomerates.

The company will invest more than Rs 60,000 crores along with a coalition of global companies over the next 10 years in this collaborative initiative, he said.

Ambani said this in his address at the 'Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018' inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(With IANS inputs)