India will be next investment global hotspot: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi, Nov 16: Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said, as per a recent CII-Ernst & Young report, India will be the next investment global hotspot. “We have the potential to attract an annual FDI in the range of $120- $160 billion by 2025. Last seven years we’ve seen a record FDI, each year breaking the previous record for 7 years in a row. And I do hope to see that continue looking at the major structural reforms, the fact that we have a proactive leader in Prime Minister Modi, willing to listen and willing to change with the changing times,” said the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, addressing the 2nd edition of the CII National Conference on MNCs, 2021, through video conference today. Goyal said global sentiments have changed from ‘Why India?’ to ‘Why Not India!’, and today ‘We must be in India!’ “There are more success stories here than anywhere in the world today, 71 unicorns. Naukri Jobspeak Index for Oct' 2021 reports a 43% growth in employment over the same month last year. Our Manufacturing PMI (is high) and Service PMI reached a decade high,” he said. Goyal said Government has introduced several key policy and business reforms for improving the investment climate. “The closest and most recent decision like the privatization of Air India which was successfully bid by the Tata group, the removal of that very, very unfortunate Retrospective Tax which has, I believe, cost us dear in terms of investment climate for many years, the kind of reforms in Mining, in the Coal sector, ones that we are hoping to do in Power, the huge Renewable Energy growth story in India, all of these things, I think, encourage us to look for a brighter future,” he said. The Union Minister said the National Single Window System (NSWS) has been launched to serve as a one-stop-shop for approvals and clearance needed by investors. “The portal hosts approvals across 18 Central departments and 9 States. Another 14 Central departments and 5 States will be added by December.” India has all the right ingredients for the Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and can help MNCs become more competitive at global level. “Diverse business landscape, rule of law & transparent systems, skilled workforce & low labour cost, no forced technology transfers,” he added. Encouraging the Indian MNCs to take ‘Brand India’ to the world and be ambassadors of India’s culture, quality and values, Goyal said MNCs have been an integral part of India’s growth story and their contribution is immense. “Whether it’s in terms of building highly skilled managerial talent, whether it’s building good business practices or good manufacturing practices in India, whether it’s the good Corporate Social Responsibility and such social initiatives that are taken up by many of our MNCs. Whether it’s skill development, I think, a huge contribution by the MNCs when it comes to skill development in India, and all of these have had a multiplier effect on the economy,” he said. Goyal stressed on promoting partnership between the Government and Industry. “This partnership is important more because in today’s time because it gives us ideas, it gives us thoughts, it gives us an opportunity to understand where you come from, what needs to be done and, I think, this partnership needs to be strengthened further as we go along.”