Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday pledged to slash red tape and harness the benefits of a huge young population, as he launched a campaign to attract global business to manufacture in India.
India’s business-friendly new leader wants to revive his country’s flagging economic fortunes by invigorating a manufacturing sector long eclipsed by that of neighboring China.
“We don’t need to invite the world to India; they are ready to come. We just need to give them our address,” Modi said at the launch of his “Make in India” campaign.
Photo: AFP
“India is the only country in the world that has the power of democracy, demographic dividend and demand,” he said, adding that the nation’s young people stood to benefit from manufacturing growth.
Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in May on a mandate to revive the economy, which is going through its worst slowdown in two decades.
The government has already relaxed rules for foreign investors, eager to create jobs for the millions of Indians who enter the employment market each year.
However, any company seeking to do business still has to contend with byzantine regulations and a stringent tax regime.
Modi said he had been “pained” to hear stories of businesses abandoning India because of an unfavorable business climate.
“I asked my staff: ‘Why are government forms so lengthy?’ And there was no reason,” Modi told business leaders, including Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man.
Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said there was “huge untapped potential” in India for manufacturing, which accounts for just 15 percent of GDP, far less than in many other Asian nations.
“India has long been associated, unfortunately, with red-tapism and cumbersome rules and regulations. We are conscious of such perceptions,” Sitharaman said.
“We want to change that. Red tape will be replaced by the proverbial red carpet,” she said.
The World Bank recently placed India 134th among 189 economies in its ease of doing business report, while China ranked 96th.
British mobile giant Vodafone is locked in a US$2.4 billion tax row with the Indian government, while Finnish company Nokia had its plant in India seized over a tax dispute.
Kenichi Ayukawa, head of Indian car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki, said India had the potential to be a world leader in the sector, but was being held back by red tape and other issues.
“Costs of production in India increase because of various government policies, procedures, regulations and the way some of the laws are implemented,” he said at the launch, adding he was confident such barriers to growth could now be removed.
Modi launched the campaign hours before he was due to fly to the US, where he will meet heads of businesses including Google and PepsiCo on an official visit heavily focused on attracting investment.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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