World is realising ‘India means business’: PM Modi

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, while highlighting that the country is emerging as a major centre of growth today, said that the world is realising “India means business”.

The Prime Minister also pointed out the rising Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country stating that it was witnessed to be the “highest ever” last year.

The remarks of PM Modi came while addressing an event on the 20 years of the establishment of the Indian School of Business (ISB) here in Hyderabad.

“India is emerging as a major centre of growth today. Last year, the highest ever, record FDI came into India. Today the world is realizing that India means business. Today our youth are proving that they can lead the world. So today the world is looking at India, India’s youth and India’s product with new respect and new trust,” he said.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister asked the students to “combine their personal goals with those of the country”.

“We often see Indian solutions being implemented globally. Therefore, on this important day, I would like to ask you to combine your personal goals with the goals of the country,” said PM Modi.

Underlining the political will of his government towards reforms, the Prime Minister said that the country is witnessing it which is leading to “continuous reforms”.

“If we compare the last eight years with the previous three decades we’ll see that reforms couldn’t take place despite their need, due to a lack of political willpower & instability. The country couldn’t take big decisions. After 2014, India is witnessing political willpower and continuous reforms,” he said.

“We have done many reforms in medical education also. As a result of this, the number of medical colleges has increased from 380 to more than 600 in the last 8 years. Medical graduate and postgraduate seats have increased from 90 thousand to more than 1.5 lakh in the country,” the Prime Minister added while listing out the reforms undertaken by his government in the medical sector.

PM Modi further lauded the people’s participation in the reforms and said that it can be witnessed in campaigns like Swachh Bharat Mission and Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

“The biggest inspiration that has come in the last 8 years is public participation. The people of the country are themselves moving ahead and giving impetus to the reforms. We have seen this in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Now we are seeing the power of public participation in the Vocal for Local and Self-reliant India campaign,” he said.

The Prime Minister hailed the performances of the Indian athletes in various sports tournaments after 2014 (since his government came to power at the Centre) and said that the reason behind this is the “confidence of the athletes”.

“After all, what is the reason that after 2014 we are getting unprecedented performance in every field of the game? The biggest reason for this is the confidence of our athletes. Confidence comes when the right talent is discovered, when there is handholding of talent, when there is a transparent selection, a better infrastructure of training, and competition is available,” he said.