Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah addresses the 118th annual session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on ‘Rising India: Amrit Kaal of Unprecedented Growth' as the chief guest in New Delhi, today.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that after the G20 meeting held in India under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, a new energy has been infused not only in trade and industry but across every sector in the country. He said that the success of G20, Chandrayaan, Mission Aditya and 33 percent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, have infused a new energy in the entire nation. He said that today's program is being held at the initiation of Amritkaal. From independence till now, the country has embarked on a 75-year journey, achieving numerous milestones in every field. Shri Shah said that the biggest achievement in these 75 years has been that we as a country have succeeded in deepening the roots of democracy. He added that India has shown the world that governance in terms of policy is a continuous process.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that during the celebration of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had said that along with celebrating the achievements of the past 75 years, it is essential to set goals and realize where the country would be in 2047, when India marks 100 years of independence. He said that this is why Prime Minister Modi has termed the journey from 75 to 100 years as the "Amrit Kal," signifying that it's a time to make resolutions and achieve them (Sankalp se Siddhi). He added that we aim to build the India of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's dreams so that when the country celebrates its centenary of independence, India will lead in every field globally. He said that India is the youngest, most populous, and has the most engineers, doctors, and technocrats in the world. It is a country with democracy, teamwork, and under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, good policies are being formulated.

Shri Amit Shah said that the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry should play a crucial role in determining the shape and direction of the country's trade and industry in the coming years. He added that the theme of today's program is very relevant to the contemporary times. The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry represents over 1.5 lakh small and large industries across the country and in a way is considered as the Voice of Industry and Trade. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set goals to make India a fully developed nation by 2047, achieve a $5 trillion economy for India by 2026, and become the world's third-largest economy by 2027. To achieve these three goals, the industry will need to play a significant role. Trade and industry are the heart of the country's economy from where the entire economy gets a boost. Due to the changes brought about by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's policies, there is talk of "India's Moment" everywhere, and India is being recognized as a "Vibrant Spot" globally. He added that in the previous quarter, our economy grew at a rate of 7.8%, and we have also been successful in maintaining inflation at a minimum level for 40 months.

Union Home Minister said that as per the principle of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" advocated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India is leading the world in solving global problems across all sectors. Now the world is looking towards India in all areas including fight against terrorism, solar alliance, green energy etc. and many of our initiatives are guiding the world today. He said that in the last 9 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India has made efforts and achieved success in transforming the country in every sector. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's 9 years of governance has been marked by promises, performance, and results. He added that sincere efforts have been made to fulfill the promises made in 2014, which are now yielding excellent results. While India remained the 11th largest economy in the world for 10 years, under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's leadership, we have broken this stagnation in the past 9 years, emerging as the 5th largest economy, and we are now set to become the world's third-largest economy by 2027. He said that the estimated GDP growth rate for the fiscal year 2023-24 is 6.1%, and with this achievement, India will emerge as the country with the highest growth rate across the G20. He said that the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme has turned the dream of "Make in India" into a reality across 14 sectors. Now, India has emerged as a lucrative destination for manufacturing on a global scale, and companies from around the world want to invest in India, creating numerous opportunities for us.

Shri Amit Shah said that during the period from 2004 to 2014, it was often said that the country had succumbed to policy paralysis. However, in the last nine years, we have formulated several policies, and as a result, we have achieved success in improving our GDP from $2.03 trillion to $3.75 trillion. In 2013-14, our per capita income was Rs. 68,000, which has now increased to Rs. 1,80,000 rupees in 2022-23. In 2014, the capital expenditure was Rs. 3.9 lakh crores, and the Union government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has increased it to Rs. 10 lakh crores by 2023. He said that we live in a federal structure, and unless the concept of Team India is followed, comprehensive development of this country is not possible. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has promoted the concept of Team India, and the Union government has increased the allocation to the states from Rs. 30 lakh crores, during 2004 to 2014, to Rs. 100 lakh crores in the nine years from 2014 to 2023. Between 2004 and 2014, tax collection was Rs. 19 lakh crores, which has now increased to Rs. 70 lakh crores in the nine years from 2014 to 2023. While the country had only 74 airports in 70 years after independence, today, there are 148 operational airports. Between 2004 and 2014, 610 kilometers of railway lines were laid, but in the last nine years, we have laid 6,565 kilometers of railway lines. In 2014, there were a total of 91,000 kilometers of national highways in the country, but in the last nine years, we have constructed 50,000 kilometers of national highways. Today, the industry cannot be imagined without the internet in the country. Earlier, the cost per GB of internet was Rs. 270, which is now available at a rate of Rs. 10 per GB. In 2014, there were only 4 unicorn startups in the country. Today, with 115 unicorn startups, India is at the forefront globally. In 2014, there were 350 startups, and today, more than one lakh startups are contributing to our economy. Between 2004 and 2014, FDI in the country was $45 billion, which has now crossed $85 billion.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that our export of toys was 96 million dollars, the Modi government has done the work of increasing it to 326 million dollars by 2022. He said that no one could have believed that GST could ever be implemented, but our dream of implementing GST came true and due to the approach of Team India, only one decision in the GST Council was taken by voting, all other decisions were taken unanimously, irrespective of party politics. Shri Shah said that due to political culture of collaborative thinking developed by Prime Minister Modi, GST collection has reached Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April, 2023 and the monthly average GST collection is Rs 1.69 lakh crore. Our foreign exchange reserves were $309 billion, today they stand at $593 billion. He said that today our exports have increased, to create a favourable environment for trade and industry by increasing ease of doing business, more than 39,000 compliance requirements have been abolished under various laws and the work of converting 3400 legal provisions from criminal to civil has been done by the Narendra Modi government. He said that there cannot be a better environment than this in the country for trade and industry. Shri Shah said that in 2013-14, there were 127 crores digital transactions in the country, which increased to 12,735 crores in 2022. India alone accounts for 40% of real-time digital payments in the world. In 2014, there were 50 crore people in India who did not have a single bank account in their family. By providing them bank accounts, Prime Minister Modi has done the work of connecting 50 crore people with the country's economy. He said that if we look at the infrastructure, earlier 11 kilometers of road was being built in a day, now 37 kilometers are built in a day. Vande Bharat has changed entire concept of rail travel, earlier there was metro in 3 cities, now it is in 27 cities, more than 10 lakh electric vehicles are on the road. Under Bharatnet, earlier only 30,000 kilometers of cable was laid, Modi ji has done the work of providing optical fibre to every panchayat by laying 6,20,000 kilometers of optical fibre cables. Internet connections have increased by 230% in the last 8 years and by 2027, the capitals of the eight North-Eastern states will be connected to the country by rail, road and air.

Shri Amit Shah said that we have also revived the Land Port Authority and today trade worth Rs 42,000 crore has been conducted with all our neighbouring countries through Land Port Authority. He said that from 2004 to 2014 this country experienced policy paralysis. He stated that after becoming Prime Minister in 2014, Shri Narendra Modi framed many policies including National Policy on Electronics, Make in India, Startup India, Skill India, GST, Digital India, UDAN Scheme, National Quantum Mission, National Education Policy. He said that India is going to become the best education destination in the next 10 years for all the students around the world. Shri Shah said that this is the first education policy after independence which no one has opposed. We have made fundamental changes in the Indian Space Policy, framed the Drone Policy, and have made radical changes in the entire health structure through Ayushman Bharat, we have worked to strengthen our urban sector through the Smart City Policy, commercial coal mining has opened up many possibilities for the exploration of our resources, Green India National Mission is attracting the entire world today and through Swachh Bharat, we have made a huge improvement in the health of the country by building more than 11 crore toilets in the country.

Union Home Minister said that India has secured its place in all the sectors which will impact the world economy in the next 25 years. Sectors like green hydrogen, semiconductor, electric vehicle, solar energy, defence, drones, space, mining and green fuel ethanol are going to impact the world economy for the next 25 years. In the last 9 years, Modi government has successfully laid a foundation in all these areas and now we have to make a place for ourselves in the world by performing in all these areas. He said that Prime Minister Modi has worked with a vision to lay a strong foundation for India in all areas affecting the world economy for the coming 25 years. Shri Shah said that the next 25 years are very important for our trade and industry. The time has come to change both the size and scale of the Indian industry and PHD Chamber of Commerce should think in the direction of this initiative. He said that our companies will have to work towards becoming multinational and now the need of the hour is for Indian companies to become multinational. Along with this, we will also have to increase investment in R&D. Today we are at first place in the world in production of pulses, milk and jute production and if there is any country that produces the maximum number of railway engines, it is India. Apart from this, today we are at second place in the world in mobile handset production, cement, steel and cotton production and we have also reached second place in tea production. We have reached the third position in startups and motor vehicles. This shows that if we decide, we deliver.

Shri Amit Shah said that we have skilfully brought our banking sector out of NPA. A Credit Guarantee Fund Trust of Rs. 9000 crore has also been created to promote MSMEs. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has developed a Team India approach, and it does not mean the Government of India and the State Governments. Every farmer of the country and every small and big industry together form Team India, and only then we will be able to reach our goal in 2047. He said that today the Amritkaal is beginning, it is time to take a resolution and make a road map for Sankalp Se Siddhi, that is why this is the time, the right time.

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