Speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 in Gandhinagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that his government wants to promote co-operative federalism in the country. "At the same time, we want a competitive element among the states to create and attract whatever is needed there. I call this new form of federalism: Co-operative and Competitive Federalism," he explained.
The PM assured that his government is actively working to revive the economy and that it is committed to create a policy environment that is predictable, transparent and fair. The PM shared some statistics to support his claim. "On the economic front, during the first two quarters, we registered a growth rate which was one percent higher than the previous year. The IMF has observed that India will be the 2nd fastest growing economy in the coming years."
According to the latest forecast of the OECD, India would be the only country among world's top economies which would increase its pace of growth this year. HSBC's latest report has identified India as the world's largest growing exporter, which is set to move from being the fourteenth to the fifth largest exporter in the world by 2030.
The PM also highlighted the work done by his government in the last seven months. "Friends! We are not merely making commitments and announcements. We are also backing them up with concrete action at the level of policy and practice. For example, I announced a Financial Inclusion programme. In four months, we have opened more than 100 million bank accounts," he said.
The PM then drew attention to various plans and the actions taken to implement the same like liberalising the FDI policy in construction to facilitate creation of Smart Cities, opening up of 100 percent FDI for modernisation of railways, and so on.
"We are trying to complete the circle of economic reforms speedily. We are also keen to see that our policies are predictable. We are clear that our tax regime should be stable. In the last few months, we have taken several decisions in this direction," the PM said.
Four months back, the Government launched the ‘Make In India' initiative to encourage the growth of manufacturing in the country. "We are working hard to make India a global manufacturing hub. We are promoting, in particular, labour intensive manufacturing. I have launched these initiatives in a campaign mode so that they force us in the Government to make faster corrections.
"They challenge us to do away with the red tape and become pro-active. With this purpose, our applications and processes are being aggressively put online. Ease of doing business in India is a prime concern for you and us I assure you that we are working very seriously on these issues," he said.