Davos
India is working toward a five trillion dollar economy by 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, at the opening session of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Almost all areas of our economy have been opened to foreign direct investment,” said Modi, the first Indian prime minister in two decades to attend the forum of global business and political leaders. “More than 1400 archaic laws that were an obstacle to doing business” have been abolished in the last three years, he said.
“India is removing the red tape and laying out the red carpet,” he said. Modi also listed climate change, terrorism and inward-looking focus of some nations as the greatest threats to the world.
Modi is spearheading efforts to attract foreign investment to kick start growth in the Asia’s third-largest economy which is forecast to expand at a three-year low.
Sweeping policy changes, including a ban of high denomination currency bills and a botched good and services tax roll out, have imperilled revenues and placed further strain on the region’s widest budget deficit.
On the promise of cutting graft and creating jobs, Modi was voted to power in 2014 with the biggest mandate in three decades. He got a shot in arm when Moody’s upgraded India for the first time in 14 years and was further buoyed when India made it into the top 100 in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings last year, narrowing gap with competitor China. The annual budget on Feb. 1 is his next opportunity to revive growth.
