Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Annual Meeting 2021 on Wednesday at 4:30 PM via video conferencing.
According to the official release by the Prime Minister's office, the theme of the meeting is India@75: Government and Business working together for Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
The CII Annual Meeting 2021 will be held over two days of 11-12 August.
Addressing the CII meeting, the Prime Minister said, "All friends and organisations in the Industry are a major part of India's growth story. With efforts of all of you, India's economy is picking up pace once again. There is rarely a day when a CEO doesn't issue a statement or there's not a report on new opportunities."
Stating that the New India is ready and committed to growing with the new world, he said, "India, which was once apprehensive of foreign investment, is today welcoming all types of investments. India is taking major leaps in ease of doing business ranking today."
"We have taken bold decisions. Reforms continued even during pandemic. The government is doing reforms not out of compulsion but out of conviction," he said while addressing the CII's annual meeting.
Exhibiting India's manufacturig potential, PM Modi said that Indians today have faith in products that are 'Made in India'.
"Today the situation is changing rapidly. Today the sentiment of the citizens is with products that are Made in India. It is not necessary that the company should be Indian, but today every Indian wants to own Made in India products."
He added, "There was a time when we used to think that foreign products are better. Even our own brands, which we had built after years of hard work, were promoted under foreign names." He said, "Today, our citizens are ready to accept and promote our local products. This will play a key role in building Aatma Nirbhar Bharat."
Assuring all support to the industry, Modi said that India is receiving record foreign direct investment (FDI) because of reforms done in the last few years.
He added that now Indians want made in India goods irrespective of the origin of the company that is producing the goods.
On growth of startups in the country, he said India now has 60 unicorns, 21 of them reaching that status in the last few months. "Several unicorns are becoming the image of the nation... 7-8 years ago, India might have had just 3-4 unicorns. Today, there are nearly 60 unicorns in India. Out of these 60, 21 have been developed in the last few months," Modi said.
