Addressing the Opening Session of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Mumbai today, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi said 

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi said “A ‘New India’ is rising. It is an India that stands on the pillars of economic opportunity for all, knowledge economy, holistic development, and futuristic, resilient and digital infrastructure”. The Prime Minister said that we are happy to have this opportunity to deepen our engagement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and its Members. AIIB started its financing operations in January 2016 and in less than three years, it has in its fold, 87 Members. Shri Modi further said, “With committed capital of 100 billion dollars and huge need for infrastructure in Member Countries, I take this opportunity to call upon AIIB to expand its financing from 4 billion US dollars, to 40 billion US dollars by 2020 and 100 billion US dollars by 2025”

Addressing the Opening Session of the Third Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) here in Mumbai today, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi said :

·         His Government has taken a number of steps to boost investment. We have simplified rules and regulations for businesses and undertaken bold reforms

·         We have provided investors an environment which is efficient, transparent, reliable and predictable India is one of the most investor-friendly economies in the world. Investors look for growth and macro-economic stability

·         Global confidence in India’s economy is rising. From the point of a foreign investor, India counts as an extremely low risk political economy.

·         Agriculture is the lifeline of the Indian economy. We are promoting investments in warehouses and cold chains, food processing, crop insurance & allied activities among others.

·         Lauding the efforts of AIIB, the Prime Minister, Shri Modi said ‘’India and AIIB are both strongly committed to making economic growth more inclusive and sustainable. In India, we are applying novel Public Private Partnership models, Infrastructure Debt Funds, and Infrastructure Investment Trusts to fund infrastructure.”

Speaking further on the occasion, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi said that India is trying to develop brownfield assets as a separate asset class for infrastructure investment. Such assets, having passed the stages of land acquisition and environment and forest clearances, are relatively de-risked. Hence, for such assets, institutional investment from pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds are likely to be more forthcoming, the Prime Minister said.

In a short period of just over two years, AIIB has approved 25 projects in a dozen countries with a total financing of over US $4 billion.

Stating that India, being one of the most investor-friendly economies in the world, has emerged as a bright spot in the global economy, the Prime Minister, Shri Modi said, “With a size of 2.8 trillion US Dollars, it is the seventh largest economy in the world. It is the third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. In the fourth quarter of 2017-18, we grew at 7.7 per cent. In 2018-19, we are projected to grow at 7.4 per cent.”

The Prime Minister said, ”Our macro-economic fundamentals are strong with stable prices, a robust external sector and a fiscal situation firmly in control. Despite rising oil prices, inflation is within the mandated range. The Government is firmly committed to the path of fiscal consolidation”. The Government debt as a percentage of GDP is also consistently declining, he added.

Counting India as an extremely low risk political economy from a foreign investor’s perspective, the Prime Minister, Shri Modi said, “The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is one of the most significant systemic reforms that our country has undergone. It works on the One Nation – One Tax principle. It reduces tax cascading, increases transparency, and adds to logistics efficiency. All of this makes it easier for the investor to do business in India.”

The size and growth of the Indian market hold much more potential. India’s per capita income has doubled in the last ten years. We have over 300 million middle class consumers. This number is expected to double in the next ten years. The size and scale of requirement in India gives the added advantage of economies of scale for the investors, said the Prime Minister.

Earlier, welcoming the Prime Minister, the Union Minister for Railways, Coal, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Piyush Goyal, in his initial remarks said that the newly emerging institutions have the potential to redefine the contours of multilateral financing and set new rules for engagement. He said that multilateralism has helped the world achieve inclusive economic growth across countries at different stages of development. The Finance Minister said that we need to strengthen the multilateral cooperation to help us meet the challenges of climate change, economic slowdown in some parts of the world and rising protectionism.

Holding inclusive growth as the key element, the Finance Minister, Shri Goyal said there is a need to develop faster processes for loan disbursement as India is a leading emerging economy and most favoured investment destination.

Over the five-year period of 2017-22, India will need US$750 billion for energy, transportation and urban development and we have budgeted infrastructure spending at US$90 billion for 2018-19. AIIB will be an important pillar in meeting this requirement, Shri Goyal concluded.

Earlier, in his address, AIIB President, Mr. Jin Liqun said, “Between now and 2030, Asia investment in infrastructure must rise to US$2 trillion a year, or roughly triple of what it has been in the past.”

“Asian developing countries now account for 60% of global growth, while roughly two-thirds of global trade is part of value-chains passing through Asia. Yet still today, 11% of Asia’s population remains in poverty. It is against this backdrop that AIIB was formed. Economic openness and investment in infrastructure drew Asia’s growth in previous stages. Now, much more needs to be done to ensure the future continues to brighten for all of Asia”, Mr. Liqun added.

In conclusion, Mr. Liqun said ,”Solid global growth is crucial for our members to meet their objectives and an Open Trading System is a foundation of that global growth. I look forward to working with all of you towards this end”.

Industries Department, Government of Maharashtra is the nodal Department, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Government of Maharashtra is the nodal agency, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is the Professional Conference Organiser (PCO), Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS) is the knowledge partner, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is the Exhibition partner for the 3rd Annual Meeting of AIIB.

In the past, AIIB Annual Meetings were held at Beijing, China in 2016 and Jeju, Republic of Korea in 2017.

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Source: pib.nic.in