Govt emphasises on pushing reforms to attract investment

The Dollar Business Bureau

Underlining the need to open up India’s economy further, India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government will set up reforms to attract more investment and fill up infrastructure deficit.

Asserting there is a "great amount of impatience" on the growth front, Jaitley said, “I think one of the great strengths of the Indian economy is that even though we are growing at the fastest rate than any major economy, but by our own standard we are still not satisfied. There is a great amount of impatience in India and a far greater amount of realisation that we can grow even faster.” 

Speaking at the India-UK Tech Summit, which coincided with the British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to India, the finance minister pointed out that India’s voices are increasingly getting heard in the world and that the voices seeking protectionism have almost faded with the expansion of the economy. "Normally it is the least developed and developing economies which have a tendency to cry for protectionism and that is a voice that's almost not heard in India," he said. 

"Therefore to reform more, to open more, to attract more investment, to expand more in manufacturing, (we need) to fill up the infrastructure deficit faster than what we have been doing," he said. 

Jaitley said that the country has wasted many economic opportunities in past and now is the best time to identify economic expansion opportunities and grow with the flow by opening economy and undertaking adequate reforms. The eastern India presents a huge economic potential, while rural areas have a deficit and offer a tremendous potential to invest, he said. 

"If we look at the areas where we have growth potential I think one obvious area is manufacturing. The share of manufacturing has to increase from the present 15% to 25% level and that's where we will realise we are creating far more jobs and expanding far better," he said.

Jaitley further said that after deciding to quit the European Union, Britain is looking outside Europe and sees countries like India as one of its great future partners in trade and business.