Narendra Modi pitches India as best place for global investors
The HinduPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made a pitch for India as an investment destination and reliable player in global supply chains. Delivering the keynote address at the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum via video link, Mr. Modi said nobody could have imagined when 2020 began that the year would turn out this way, with a global pandemic impacting everyone. Without naming China, Narendra Modi said the pandemic has showed that trust was important for global supply chain decisions. “A self-reliant and peaceful India ensures a better world,” Mr. Modi said, adding that that the idea was to transform India from a passive market to an “active manufacturing hub at the heart of global value chains.” He highlighted what he called a transparent, predictable tax regime; the Goods and Services Tax as a unified IT-enabled tax system, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code reducing risk for the financial regime; labour reforms that were reducing compliance costs for employers and providing social security for workers.