Union Minister Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah attended the Annual Session 2023 of ASSOCHAM based on the theme 'Bharat@100: Paving the Way for Inclusive and Sustainable Global Growth' as the Chief Guest in New Delhi today.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that the development of the entire India can happen only when entire nation makes efforts for it. He said that unless there is an all-inclusive development of India, we cannot achieve our goal. He said that many people consider the population of 130 crores as a huge burden but it has a huge market. He said that we cannot move forward until efforts are made from each and every corner of the country for development of India.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that if we analyse the political map of India today, we  see that one Central Government, 28 State Governments, 2 UT Governments, 6 UTs, about 2.5 lakh local bodies, 30-31 lakh elected representatives, 6.40 lakh villages and their panchayats, district panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations together form our administrative set up. He said that the development of India is not possible until the Prime Minister of the country implements the concept of Whole of Government Approach and Team India at the grassroot level. Shri Shah said that Prime Minister Shri  Narendra Modi has decided to take the entire country together by rising above different ideologies and realizing the vision of Team India. This is the reason  that the government under his leadership in the last 9 years has achieved many milestones. He said that the similar level of energy is experienced in every corner of the country. He added that India has created a consciousness by holding G-20 meetings at 59 places across all the states and UTs. He said that if the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi would not have adopted the approach of working together, then we would never have been able to successfully fight the pandemic like Covid-19. He said that today the world is convinced that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India is the only country which has fought Covid-19 in the best possible way.

Shri Amit Shah said that the precise policies made after deliberations by the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi have taken India on the path of progress. Our ideology has made India safe, our sensitive schemes have made India's development all-inclusive and we have surprised the world with our achievements. He said that through Digital India, a total of 8840 crore digital transactions have taken place in the country in the year 2022, in which the share of UPI is 52 percent and their total value is Rs 126 lakh crore. He said that electricity has reached to 99 percent of India's villages, 1.90 lakh panchayats of the country have been connected to BharatNet and over 6 lakh kilometers of optical fiber has been laid in the last 6 years. Shri Shah said that in 2014 there were 6.1 crore broadband connections, which has increased to 82 crore in September 2022. He said that this shows that while leading the country, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has the capacity, courage and vision to harness all the possibilities so that the country can reach the targeted goal.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set two goals for the country. Firstly, India should be a fully developed nation by 2047 and secondly, to make  India a $ 5 trillion economy by 2025 and to achieve these two goals, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has laid a strong foundation in 9 years. He said that India's total export of merchandise goods in 2022 is $ 421 billion, FDI of $ 83 billion has come to the country, there are more than 70,000 start-ups out of which 116 are unicorns. He said that the government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has kept the focus of expenditure on infrastructure and the average GST collection for the 10 months of 2022-23 has been Rs 1.49 lakh crore per month.

Shri Amit Shah said that before 2014, no one ever discussed about 60 crore people who did not have any bank account and who were not a part of the country's economy. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has provided the facility of a bank account to every family in 9 years. He said that through DBT the government led by Prime Minister Modi has directly transferred more than Rs. 24 lakh crores to the 48 crore bank accounts for more than 310 schemes of 53 ministries. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has brought many reforms to raise the living standard of these 60 crore people of the country. Shri Shah said that by giving a human face and sensitivity to the GDP, Prime Minister Modi has brought change in the lives of the deprived 60 crore people of the country. There can be no bigger booster for the country's economy than the efforts of these 60 crore people. Earlier, the deficit was kept hidden in the country's budget, but the government under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi has controlled the deficit and brought it within the parameters of the economy.

The Union Home Minister said that Shri Modi has done the biggest task of investing in infrastructure and for this he inspired the Central Government as well as the State Governments. He said that after 5 years, the logistics cost in India will come down to 7.5 percent from the present 13 percent. He said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has planned to invest about Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure. He said that in 2014 the length of National Highways was 91,000 kilometers which has increased to 1.46 lakh kilometers today. He said that industrial development was not possible without reducing the infrastructure and logistics cost and with great vision, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set a target to bring down the logistics cost in 5 years. Shri Shah said that Prime Minister Modi has also brought political stability in the country and after 30 years in 2014, a government with full majority was formed and the people of country has made significant  contribution in it. Shri Shah said that this period of 10 years would be known as the period of political stability in the history of Indian democracy. He said that the internal and external security situation in the country has also strengthened in the last nine years. A strong environment of national security has been created in the country, which has developed a favorable environment for industrial development across the country from the Northeast to Kutch in Gujarat and from J&K to Kanyakumari.

Shri Amit Shah said that the since 2014, Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has implemented the principles of governance at the grassroot level with a strong determination and has brought many new policies. New Education Policy, New Drone Policy, New Health Policy, New Electronics Policy, Commercial Coal Mining Policy, Make in India, Stand-up India, Skill India and Digital India policies have completely changed all the parameters. The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has created an environment to strengthen the local industries of the country with Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Vocal for Local. He said that development is not possible without long-term and visionary policies and the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi never took decisions which are liked by the people and vote bank, but took such decisions which are good for the people. Shri Shah said that the government with foresighted approach and without the greed for vote bank created an environment in the country, took decisions, made policies and implemented them with firmness. It has yielded amazing results which are in front of the world today in the form of our achievements. He said that in 2014, when Shri Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the per capita income of the country was Rs. 68,000, which is Rs. 1.72 Lakh rupees today.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that India's share in the global GDP in 2014 was 2.60 per cent, which has increased to 3.40 per cent by March 31, 2022. He said that our share in global FDI inflow was 2.10 per cent in 2014 which has increased to 6.70 per cent in 2022. Shri Shah said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has tried to grow the economy on the 4 pillars of tough decisions, formulation of precise policies, strict implementation of these policies and complete removal of corruption. He said that the time has come for the Indian industry to change its size and scale under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

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RK/AY/AKS