PM Modi flags off $1 trillion dream for UAE investors

ABU Dhabi/Dubai: Drumming up the India growth story in the Gulf dynamo, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted investors in the United Arab Emirates to cash in on an “immediate investment opportunity of USD 1 trillion in India.”

During his visit to Masdar city, a zero-carbon city, near Abu Dhabi, UAE, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an investor meet where he underlined huge opportunities spawned by India’s growing economy and called for dovetailing UAE’s power and India’s potential to make it an Asian century.

Citing reports by major global institutions such as World Bank, IMF, Moodys, Mr Modi said India is the world’s fastest growing economy and has a huge potential to develop. “On one hand India is growing fast and on the other hand, the world is looking at Asia. But is Asia complete without UAE? I can clearly see that the UAE should be at the centre of mainstream of things in Asia. UAE’s power and India’s potential can make it Asia’s century,” he told top business leaders from the UAE.

Alluding to lethargy and indecisiveness that was seen in policy-making during previous governments in New Delhi, the prime minister said his government has got some legacy problems and his immediate priority would be to kick-start the economic reforms process.

Reassuring investors, Mr Modi stressed that he is aware of some of the problems faced by the UAE investors while doing business in India and has promised them that he would address these issues on a priority basis. He also said that he would send the Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman to try and find solutions to the problems faced by the investors from UAE. He was responding to investors’ concerns about cumbersome and complex processes relating to doing business in India.

The UAE, home to 45,000 Indian companies, is the tenth biggest investor in India and has pumped in FDI worth more than USD 3 billion into Asia’s third largest economy. With the UAE having sovereign wealth fund of close to USD 800 billion, Mr Modi is looking to attract funds to shore up India’s infrastructure sector, which needs billions of dollars of investment over the next few years.

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