HANNOVER: The colours of India are splashed all over the Hannover Messe. And the lions are on the prowl, roaring the promise of a rising India, a roar that has acquired a powerful resonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of a changed India where businesses thrive and the spirit of enterprise and innovation prevails.
The message that India is a changed place and can’t be stopped — like the lion, the symbol of Make in India which is ubiquitous in this German city — rang clear and loud as Mr Modi jointly inaugurated the India Pavilion at the world’s greatest show of industry and technology, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 12. There was much singing and chanting, with folk dancers donning colourful Rajasthani attire enlivening the industry show.
“The symbol of lion for Make in India has been chosen very carefully. We know that our biggest need today is to create jobs for our 65% population which is young. Hence, Make in India is the need,” the prime minister said, with Chancellor Merkel cheering on.
“Hence, the lion. Because a lion can’t be stopped. We are confident that our journey to make India a global manufacturing hub cannot be stopped that too by our own rules and regulations. We must, and we will make corrections wherever required.”
Seeing is Believing
Making a robust pitch to top German CEOs who were listening to him intently, Mr Modi, who was frenziedly clicked by hundreds of paparazzi and besotted visitors as he moved around the India Pavilion, asked potential foreign investors to come and see the country to themselves and get a sense of how India’s regulatory environment.
“Indo-German partnership should and will flourish. My advice to you is come and feel the change in India’s regulatory environment,” Modi told an Indo-German business summit here.
“I am here to assure the German companies that India is now a changed country. Our regulatory regime is much more transparent, responsive and stable. Our regulatory regime is much more transparent, responsive and stable,” he stressed. All eyes were on the India at the fair as Asia’s third largest economy is the partner country this year at Hannover Messe. He informed the elite audience about a slew of steps taken by his government to make India a global investment destination and an international These steps to enhance the ease of doing business in India included reducing the complicated procedures, making them available at one platform, preferably online, simplifying the forms and formats.
“We have fast tracked approvals in industry and infrastructure. This includes environmental clearances, extending the industrial licenses, delicensing of defence items, and simplification of cross-border trade. Within a very short time, we introduced GST Bill in parliament,” he added.
Backing his pitch with hard facts, the prime minister said: “The sentiments for private investment and inflow of foreign investment are positive. FDI inflows have gone up by 36% during April-2014 and January-2015 against the same period in previous year.”
Act East, Link West
It was a grand futuristic vision of a resurgent India determined to remake its destiny that Mr Modi unveiled in Hannover. Cohering India’s ‘Act East’ with ‘Link West’ policy, the prime minister underscored that India has the potential of becoming the middle ground for East and West as a manufacturing hub that serves both our vast domestic market and becomes a base for global exports and general well-being”.
If Modi continues to tread on the reform path and backs his lion’s roar with all-too-visible actions on the ground, India will indeed be a changed place. And then world will be watching closely, and hoping to partake of India’s ongoing resurgence.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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