India adopted the mantra of reform, perform and transform after the pandemic: PM Modi at BRICS business forum

While addressing the BRICS business forum virtually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India has adopted the mantra of "reform, perform and transform". The BRICS business forum was hosted by Chinese Prez Ji Xinping.

New Delhi: To deal with the economic problems arising out of the pandemic, in India we have adopted the mantra of "reform, perform and transform", said PM Modi at the BRICS business forum. In a virtual address at the BRICS business forum, hosted by Chinese Prez Ji Xinping, PM Modi said, "BRICS was established with the belief that this group of emerging economies can evolve as an engine of global growth".

Today when the whole world is focusing on post-COVID recovery, then the role of BRICS countries will continue to remain very important again, he said, while adding that to deal with the economic problems arising out of the pandemic, in India 'we have adopted the mantra of "reform, perform and transform". And the results of this approach are evident from the performance of the Indian economy, he said.

Highlighting the strength of the Indian economy, PM Modi said "this year, we are expecting 7.5 per cent growth, which makes us the fastest growing major economy". Transformative changes are taking place in every sector in the emerging 'New India', he pointed out. He underlined that first, a key pillar of India's current economic recovery is technology-led growth, adding that India is supporting innovation in every sector.

"We have made innovation-friendly policies in many areas like Space, Blue economy, Green hydrogen, Clean energy, Drones, Geo-spatial data, etc", said Modi. He noted that today, India has one of the best ecosystems in the world for innovation, which is reflected in the growing number of Indian start-ups. There are more than 100 unicorns in over 70,000 start-ups in India, and their number continues to grow. Second, even during the pandemic, India continued to make many efforts to improve the ease of doing business, he said at the BRICS business forum.

Thousands of rules have been changed to reduce the compliance burden on the business. "The work is going on at a massive scale to bring in more transparency and consistency in Government policies and procedures. Third, Infrastructure in India is also being improved on a large scale, and its expansion is also taking place". He explained that for the same, India has prepared a National Master Plan, while pointing out that there are investment opportunities of $1.5 trillion under India's National Infrastructure Pipeline.

And fourth, the kind of digital transformation is taking place in India today, it has never been seen on the world stage. Prime Minister Modi said that the value of the Indian digital economy will reach 1 trillion dollars by 2025. The growth of the digital sector also encouraged the participation of women in the workforce. There are approximately 36 % women out of 4.4 million professionals working in our IT sector.

He reiterated that the maximum benefit from Technology-based financial inclusion has also been gone to the women in the rural areas. BRICS Women Business Alliance can undertake a study on this transformative change in India.

The BRICS Business Forum took place a day ahead of a virtual summit of the five-nation bloc. The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) brings together five of the largest developing countries in the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade. It is expected that during the BRICS summit, the Ukraine crisis and the disruption it has caused globally will also be discussed.