Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), shared an optimistic vision for India's economic trajectory at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Annual Business Summit 2024, in New Delhi on Saturday.
In the the Plenary Session 15, titled "Future of Competitive India: Should India Have an Integrated Trade, Investment & Industrial Policy?" Singh stated, "In 2012, we were at number 11 at GDP rankings, today we are at number 5, jumping 6 places, it is inevitable that we will go onto number 3 position in next 2- 3 years."
Highlighting India's remarkable economic growth. he emphasised that India is at a critical juncture, poised to regain its historical share in global trade and investment, fueled by sustained growth and strategic government initiatives.
He said, "There is also not much doubt that we are at a tipping point in our history, when we are perhaps on the back of sustained growth rate, in a position to regain our historical share in global trade and investment."
Singh credited the government's substantial investments in infrastructure for this momentum, stating, "There is no doubt that under this government, the take-off point has been reached. Through its combination of huge unparallel levels of investments and infrastructure, both physical and digital, by providing from a rate of about 1.7 per cent of our GDP going through public sector capital formation to nearly 3.2 per cent of GDP today, which is translating itself into the roads, expressways, new airports. That is really triggering the momentum in our growth story."
He expressed optimism that the private sector would also step up with significant investments. From the private sector we are hoping that they will come forward with significant announcements as well", he said.
He added, "Our Business Reforms National plans has been the trigger for a lot of reforms that you see at the state levels whether it is in terms of online building permits or online water connections, power connections, whether it is movement made in terms of property titling being brought online at least in some of the southern states."
The session also underscored the impact of the Business Reforms National Plan, which has driven significant reforms at the state level.
Innovations such as online building permits, water and power connections, and property titling in southern states were highlighted as key advancements.
A central theme of Singh's address was the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which he described as the cornerstone of India's industrial policy.
"PLI is the center piece of our industrial policy. In terms of share numbers, we have so far created almost 1.13 lac crores of investments, over 9 lac crores of sales, over 8 lac of employment and exports of 3.45 lac crores particularly through the contribution of sectors like electronics manufacturing, pharma, food processing, telecom, and other products", he noted.
Looking ahead, Singh emphasized India's focus on improving its ranking in the upcoming World Bank survey, set to begin in August.
Singh said, "We are focused on this new World Bank Ranking for which the survey will start on August this year, That involves new set of indices that will cover both ease of entry, operation and exit of businesses. The World Bank has shared a set of 1,370 questions, which will be assessed across the various economies. Our Survey starts in September."
In terms of intellectual property, Singh reported that India's patent regime is nearing global benchmarks.
"We have not created a situation where our patented regime is meeting or getting close to the global benchmarks in terms of the patient examination time and approvals. The number of patients granted has gone up to an all-time high this year. 1 lac patients this time", he stated. (ANI)
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