8-Oct-2020: PM delivers Keynote address at Invest India Conference in Canada

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at Invest India Conference in Canada through video conference today.

The Prime Minister said India is undisputedly the only country shining in all their investment parameters like having political stability, investment and business friendly policies, transparency  in governance, skilled talent pool and a large market. He said there is an opportunity for everyone including Institutional Investors, manufacturers, supporters of innovation ecosystems and infrastructure companies.

The Prime Minister said in the post-Covid world, India showed resilience and emerged as a land of solutions to overcome various kinds of problems related to manufacturing, supply chains, etc. He added, despite disrupted logistics, money was directly delivered into bank accounts of  over 400 million farmers, women, poor and needy people within a matter of days. He listed various initiatives taken by the Government to overcome the disruption owing to the pandemic and stressed that this shows the strength of governance structures and systems that have been built over the last few years.

The Prime Minister said while the entire country was in a stringent lockdown, India was providing medicine to around 150 countries and played the role of the pharmacy to the world. He added during March-June of this year, agricultural exports rose by 23%. He said before the pandemic, India hardly manufactured PPE kits but today not only does India manufacture millions of PPE kits every month, it exports them too. He committed to ramping up production and helping the entire world in vaccine production for Covid-19.

The Prime Minister explained how India's story is growing stronger by listing the initiatives of the Government in creating a business friendly environment. He listed initiatives like liberalizing the FDI regime, creating a friendly tax regime for Sovereign Wealth and Pension Funds, bringing significant reforms for developing a robust Bond market, Incentive schemes for Champion sectors. He said schemes in sectors like Pharma, Medical Devices and Electronics Manufacturing are already in operation. He added for ensuring high-level attention and effective hand-holding for investors, a dedicated Empowered Group of Secretaries has been formed. He emphasized proactive monetization of assets across sectors like Airports, Railways, Highways, Power Transmission lines, etc. He said Real Estate Investment Trusts and Infrastructure Investment Trusts have been fully enabled for monetization of both public and private assets.

The Prime Minister said today India is undergoing a rapid change in mindsets as well as markets. It has embarked on a journey of deregulation and decriminalization of various offences under the companies act. He said India has risen from 81 to 48 in the Global Innovation Index rankings and risen from 142 to 63 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings in the last 5 years.

The Prime Minister said due to these improvements, India received around USD 70 Billion from Institutional Investors between January 2019 to July 2020. This is almost equal to that received in four years between 2013 and 2017. He stressed that continuing confidence of the global investor community in India is seen by the fact that FDI into India went up by 20% in 2019 when global FDI inflows fell by 1%.

The Prime Minister said India has already received over USD 20 Billion during the first 6 months of this year from across the globe when Covid-19 has been at peak globally. He said India has adopted a unique approach posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. He said relief and stimulus packages were given to the poor and the small businesses and at the same time this opportunity to undertake structural reforms which will ensure more productivity and prosperity.

The Prime Minister said India has undertaken a trinity of reforms in the field of education, labour and agriculture. Together, they impact almost every Indian. He said India has ensured reforms of old laws in the field of labour and agriculture. They ensure greater participation of the private sector while also strengthening the government’s safety nets and will lead to a win-win situation for entrepreneurs as well as for our hard-working people. He said the reforms in the field of education will further harness the talent of our youth and have set the stage for more foreign universities to come to India.

The Prime Minister said the reforms in the labour laws greatly reduce the number of Labour codes and are both employee and employer friendly and will further increase ease of doing business. He added the reforms in the field of agriculture are far-reaching and will not only give more choice to farmers but will boost exports. He said these reforms will support our efforts to build an Aatmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India and by working towards self-reliance, we seek to contribute to global good and prosperity. He highlighted that India is the place to partner in the field of education, to invest in manufacturing or services and to collaborate  in the field of agriculture.

The Prime Minister said India-Canada bilateral ties are driven by shared democratic values and many common interests. He said the trade and investment linkages between us are integral to our multifaceted relationship. He highlighted that Canada is home to some of the largest and most experienced infrastructure investors. He said Canadian Pension Funds were the first ones to start investing directly in India. Many of them have already discovered great opportunities in a range of areas like highways, airports, logistics, telecom and real estate. He said Mature Canadian investors who have been in India for many years now can be our best brand ambassadors. Their experience, their plan to expand and diversify can be the most credible evidence for other Canadian investors to come here too. He promised no barriers for the Canadian investors in India.

4-Oct-2020: Top Policymakers to speak on “India PV EDGE 2020” on Solar Manufacturing

To catalyze cutting-edge PV manufacturing in India, NITI Aayog, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Invest India, are organizing a global symposium virtually, ‘India PV EDGE 2020’, on October 6, 2020, from 5–8.40 pm.

There will be a plenary session and subsequent sessions on ‘Wafers and Cells’, ‘Modules and Production Equipment’ and ‘Supply Chain’. It will also include a ‘Investors Conclave’ on PV Manufacturing. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh states will participate in the conclave. This will be followed by a ‘Investors Roundtable’, which will discuss and deliberate upon issues related to India’s solar manufacturing sector viz. affordable financing, role of developers in building the ecosystem of cutting edge solar manufacturing etc.

Union Minister for Power, and New and Renewable Energy, Shri R.K. Singh, VC NITI Aayog Dr. Rajiv Kumar, CEO NITI Aayog Shri Amitabh Kant, Joint Secretary Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Shri Amitesh Kumar, MD &CEO Invest India Shri Deepak Bagla and Additional Secretary NITI Aayog Dr. Rakesh Sarwal will attend the Plenary session. Around 60 prominent Indian and global CEOs are slated to attend the event virtually.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an enormous impact on the global economy. After the 2008–09 financial crisis, green measures accounted for 16% of the total stimulus measures. To recover from the covid-inflicted impact and to battle the impending threat of global warming, governments must be even more ambitious and decisive towards clean investments. International cooperation and leveraging strengths are crucial in these times.

Solar deployment has been the flagship green growth story of the last decade and this would be instrumental to stimulate growth and build a climate-resilient world. India has become the third-largest solar capacity country in the world and set an ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, comprising 300 GW of solar capacity.

The major factor behind the rise of solar deployment is giga-scale solar manufacturing and the continuous adoption of innovations to reduce prices. Hence, solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic sectors announced by the Indian government as part of the post-Covid Aatmanirbhar Bharat recovery initiative. Subsequently, efforts are underway to make India a global hub for solar PV manufacturing, and significant giga-factory announcements are being made by local and global firms. The Indian government is also coming up with innovative initiatives to promote cutting-edge solar manufacturing in India.

This is the perfect time to bring together global, cutting-edge technology providers, equipment makers, and champion PV companies to present their technologies to the Indian industry who are drawing up their PV manufacturing plans. The companies would also have the opportunity to hear from Indian policymakers who are involved in drawing up manufacturing schemes.

Cutting-edge giga-scale solar manufacturing stands on three pillars: (i) disruptive PV chemistries, (ii) manufacturing by custom-engineered advanced production equipment, and (iii) utilisation of innovative BOM components like special glasses and coatings. That is why companies involved in all the three pillars are invited to present and engage the Indian industry in the symposium, which will catalyze the momentum for further discussions and collaborations.

India’s NDC document of the Paris Agreement in 2015 called for extraordinary vision, leadership, compassion, and wisdom to combat climate change. India PV EDGE 2020 is one small step towards that ambition.