States must leverage trade pacts to attract investment: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday called on states to intensify efforts to take advantage of India's expanding network of trade pacts and improve ease of doing business to attract investment. He urged them to continue to push for self-reliance and clean energy transition as the country looks to sustain its growth momentum amid global uncertainty.

The PM, who was chairing the 11th governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog on Thursday, asked states to work toward transforming India's demographic dividend into a "development dividend" through education, skilling and capacity-building initiatives. He laid special emphasis on women-led development, calling for the establishment of a monitoring framework along with targeted 100-day and five-year goals in order to achieve the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

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He stressed that AI should be viewed as an opportunity and people should be equipped with future-ready skills.

Collective Resolve
He urged states to focus on branding and emerging opportunities in sectors such as data centres.

The Prime Minister said Viksit Bharat should become the collective resolve of every state, district, block and village. Chief ministers of 28 states, lieutenant governors of five Union territories and key central ministers attended the meeting on the theme of Inclusive Human Development for Viksit Bharat@2047. This is the first time all chief ministers have attended the governing council meeting, which lasted for over eight hours.

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Modi emphasised the need to further strengthen the nation's resolve on self-reliance and highlighted the importance of implementing global best practices, particularly in the renewable energy sector, at a time when many major economies are facing challenges. "The world is passing through a period of uncertainty and instability, yet India continues to move forward on its growth trajectory with confidence and determination," Niti Aayog said in a social media post on X, citing Modi.