Piyush Goyal calls upon American businesses to look at India as their next investment destination
Oct 08, 2020
New Delhi [India], October 8 : The Union Commerce and Industry and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has invited American businesses to be a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision, and look at India as their next investment destination.
Addressing the India Chamber of Commerce USA's Summit on Global Financial and Investment Leadership on Wednesday virtually, he said that the Indian government is committed to being bold, open and bring in change.
"Let's work together in the spirit of oneness. Let's engage with each other and I am sure we have a bright future for the shared prosperity of the people of the US and India," he said according to an official release.
Stating that the US-India relationship will grow from strength to strength in the years to come, Goyal said that we are at the cusp of a very enduring relationship.
"US and India have a long journey ahead of us working together leveraging on huge reform measures that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken under Atmanirbhar Bharat. The potential between the US and India is boundless," said Goyal.
"We are partners who trust each other and we can make rapid strides to provide a trusted source to American businesses to work with a country which is transparent where there is rule-based trading and dialogue. The bilateral trade between the US and India grew from $126 billion dollars in 2017 to $145 dollars in 2019. The target we have set of $500 billion dollars in the next five years is eminently doable," he added.
The Minister said that India today is moving out of the past into a mindset of high-quality products, greater global engagement, and a greater share of world trade.
He said that this isn't time for a conservative approach, it's time for bold decisions and bold investments. Goyal said that the Modi government has a very holistic approach. "We are moving from red-tape to red-carpet. We are moving out of the shackles of the past into a more open and liberal foreign investment destination. As the Prime Minister has said--We have to take the Indian economy out of command and control and take it towards plug and play," he added.
Describing the reforms being undertaken in the country, Goyal said "India is undertaking efforts to reform the Indian systems of Governance, policies and laws around mining, space technology, defence, banking, financial sectors, labour and agriculture reforms. We have embarked on a new journey that will take India to levels never seen before. We are looking at logistics reform to bring down the cost of logistics."
"We are doing several tax reforms. We have insolvency laws in place. India's corporate tax is amongst the lowest in the world. My own Ministry is working at 'plug and play' and cluster development. We are looking at a genuine single-window system which makes it easy for companies and businesses to work in India. We are focusing on improved infrastructure. We promise faster registration, easier availability of infrastructure," he added.
