You will find difference in doing business with India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Australia

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured Australian industrialists on Monday that they would find a “difference in doing business with India now” and said his government was easing processes involved in setting up shop in the country besides moving ahead with reforms.

“You will begin to find a difference in India,” Modi told the business community, asserting that his government was focused on eliminating unnecessary laws and regulations. He was speaking at a breakfast meeting organised by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman in Brisbane before flying to Sydney. He said good governance is as important to business as it is to ordinary citizens.

“You will not only be able to convert opportunities into partnerships, you will do it in an environment that is welcoming and easy to do business in,” he said. “We have launched a major set of reforms to boost economic growth and improve the quality of life of people.”

He also spoke of his ‘Make in India’ initiative and plans to build 100 smart cities, 50 metro projects and modern waste management systems for 500 cities in India.

There was also mention of affordable healthcare, sanitation for all by 2019, a roof over every head by 2022 and electricity in every household in his address. “It is expected that nearly 11% of the world’s urban population in 2025 will live in India,” Modi said, adding, “You can make India a manufacturing hub... and import back to Australia.”

Modi lauded Queensland for sending trade missions to India. “Just this September, there was a Queensland-Gujarat Energy Roundtable in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. I am naturally pleased that Queensland will be participating in Vibrant Gujarat in January 2015 to showcase your infrastructure capabilities,” he said.

Modi said he has always placed great emphasis on relations between states. “You and your government are doing a lot to pursue economic opportunities with India,” Modi told Newman. “I know that you are not partial to Gujarat, but you are sending delegations to Kolkata, Delhi and elsewhere,” he said. “India is Queensland’s fourth-largest export destination. For us, Queensland is emerging as a major investment destination.”