Modi announces future plans for India’s IT hub, seeks investment
New Delhi, Nov 2 (EFE).- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced future plans for the so-called “Silicon valley of India” over the next decade, based on growing foreign investors’ confidence in the Indian economy and aiming to design technologies to reach new heights.
“World is convinced about the fundamentals of Indian Economy in these uncertain times,” Modi said in a speech delivered through videoconferencing while inaugurating the Global Investors’ Meet in Bengaluru, often dubbed the Indian Silicon Valley, in the southern state of Karnataka.
The three-day event is set to host industry leaders and potential investors for discussing the main areas of innovation for the next decade, with Modi identifying design, microchip manufacturing, developing hydrogen fuel, using nano-urea as fertilizer and coal gasification as some of the main middle to long-term challenges.
Although in this regard, the prime minister stressed the need to create a “red-carpet environment” of investment, rationalizing laws and eliminating bureaucratic hurdles to attract investors, a policy that India has adopted for 10 years now.
The cluster of tech companies concentrated in Bengaluru provides the ideal surrounding for developing these ideas, as it hosts 400 of India’s Fortune 500 companies and houses the headquarters of over 40 of the country’s 100 unicorns, Modi highlighted.
“Several development parameters of Karnataka are challenging not only other states of India but also some countries,” he added.
The prime minister also underscored India’s role in the world as one of the biggest supplier of medicines and vaccines, especially during the current “period of fragmentation” when supply chains have been disrupted and the market has saturated.
The South Asian country turned into an important supplier of anti-Covid vaccines last year, despite massive domestic demand during the second wave forcing the government to suspend exports to some countries for a while.
The confidence in the “pharmacy of the world,” gave a boost to foreign investment as it surged to the record figure of $84 billion in 2021, Modi said.
“Investing in India means investing in inclusion, investing in democracy, investing for the world, and investing for a better, cleaner and a safer planet,” the prime minister insisted. EFE
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