GST biggest business and economic reform of India: PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that GST was by far the biggest business and economic reform of India and that the country was moving towards the modern tax regime, which was transparent, stable and predictable.

“We have resolved a number of regulatory and policy issues facing businesses and companies. We have worked very sincerely for ease of doing business. We are positioning India as a global manufacturing hub. This is necessary for us to take advantage of youth energy. For this, we have launched Make in India,” Modi said while addressing the first joint meeting of Indo-Israel CEOs forum.

Inviting the Israeli industry to participate in ‘Startup India’ initiative, PM Modi launched India-Israel StartUp Bridge to encourage startups of the two countries to work together to come up with innovative solutions for tackling challenges in agriculture, water and healthcare sectors.

“There is a lot of potential for India-Israel partnership and I am happy that startup bridge has been formally launched today. Israel is known as startup nation. It has a unique sense and ecosystem for innovation and incubation. Credit must go to the Israeli entrepreneurs,” the PM noted.

“The driving force is opportunities for the betterment of lives of people.” Modi also hoped that CEOs and talents of India and Israel can together sow seeds of miracles. Inaugurating the Innovation Bridge, both Indian and Israeli PMs asserted “Innovation is life”. The CEOs of both sides concluded MoUs worth $5 billion on the sidelines of the conclave. The CEOs forum set a target to increase bilateral trade from the current $5 billion to $20 billion within five years. The forum also set up six joint committees, coveringstartups, pharmaandlife sciences, homeland security, agriculture, energy and water sectors.