The Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu addressed the private sector on Saturday and asked to play a bigger and more pro-active role in giving a more coordinated thrust to the infrastructure growth and thus boost the growth of the economy. He was speaking at the Hyderabad Chapter of CEO Clubs India.
The Vice President said that the Union Government has taken a number of steps to revive the economy and create an investor-friendly environment. Now it’s time for the industry to rise and grasp the opportunities, encourage competitiveness, technology and innovation and should attempt to create wealth and generate employment opportunities.
Addressing the members, the Vice President remarked that with the coordination and cooperation between the industry, government and academia, India has the potential to come up as a global centre in a number of areas, together with the manufacturing and digital services sector. The Vice President marked that India is at a crucial point of time in regaining its growth aspects and said that this is a high time for all the partners and stakeholders to come together so as to ensure a sustained economic growth.
He further said that as India continues to be among the global economies that have the fastest-growing economies, the Gross Domestic Product growth rate for the fiscal year 2022 has been projected to be around 9 per cent. He added that the growth is mainly driven by the reforms and well-gauged measures taken by the government of India. The economy is moving in the correct direction of growth, he added.
The Vice President said the sharp increase in the capital expenditure, as was announced in the budget 2022, is expected to bring in private investments and generate employment opportunities.
He pointed to the ‘Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti’ project and said that the seven engines of growth, namely, roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transportation, waterways and logistics infrastructure, will help in developing the all-inclusive infrastructure across all the sectors in the country.
The ‘Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti’ project’s aim is to provide multi-modal connectivity to over 1,200 industrial clusters, develop two defence corridors, improve electricity transmission networks, increase cargo handling capacity at ports as well as for railways, set up electronics manufacturing hubs and mega food parks. The plan will be of immense benefit to the MSME sector, he added.
The Productivity-Linked Incentive Scheme announced by the government for the 14 important sectors, which includes textiles, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, telecom and electronics, is projected to create over 60 lakh new jobs, he said. The Productivity-Linked Incentive scheme will serve as a booster to the manufacturing in the country and reduce imports, which in turn will elevate exports, he added.
Emphasizing on the importance of transparency and responsibility in all sectors, the Vice President said that bodies like the CEO clubs should be at the front in promoting corporate ethics and adopting zero tolerance towards corruption. He stressed on the point that complete tax compliance should be the primary motto of every company.
The Vice President, while pointing to constant Indian government efforts to promote renewable energies, said that the government has undertaken multiple initiatives, which include setting up of the National Solar Mission as well as playing the leadership role in the International Solar Alliance that is committed to financing solar energy projects around the world.
Naidu marked the important role of Start-ups and unicorns in the growth of the Indian economy. He said that currently India has emerged as the 3rd largest country for start-ups with the presence of over 63,100 start-ups in the country. By the end of last month, India became home to 88 unicorns, which command a comprehensive valuation of $ 295.99 Billion.
The Vice President said that there is an acute need to provide relevant education and skills to the youth to fully utilize their potential and to ensure that they productively contribute towards the vision of nation-building.
Referring to the three-word mantra of reform, perform and transform, he said Prime Minister Modi is leading the country in bringing in reforms to transform the lives of the people and the country. Let us build a strong, stable, peaceful and prosperous India, where there will be no poverty, illiteracy, gender and social discrimination, Naidu added.
