Narendra Modi government recently completed 4 years at the helm of the largest democracy in the world. The report card for the Modi led government has been largely positive so far. Good governance and foreign policies have been the areas of emphasis from the beginning of the Modi government. The efforts towards making India a more lucrative destination for companies has pushed the ranking of India from 140th to 100th in ease of doing business as ranked by the World Bank. A large chunk of government offerings has been made digitally available to everyone so as to make living slightly hassle-free for the Indian citizens. More than 40 million households below the poverty line have received LPG connections under the Ujjwala Yojana. GST was introduced to do away with a host of other taxes and make lives easier for business class people. We have listed 10 out of a huge number of achievements of the present government under Narendra Modi.
Make in India was a type of Swadeshi movement which was launched by the Narendra Modi government in September 2014, whose aim was to encourage Indian as well as Multinational companies to manufacture in India, as well as to increase their investments. Foreign Direct Investment was increased to 100% in all 25 sectors except for space, defence and news media. As a result of the launch, a plethora of established companies decided to set up shop in India. The Japanese car company, Kia Motors invested the US $1.1 billion towards a car manufacturing plant in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. This would be the maiden foray of Kia into the Indian automobile sector. The plant is expected to hire 3,000 people and manufacture 300,000 cars annually. Kia would eventually invest the US $2 billion in India and end up generating more than 10,000 jobs in the Indian market. Thurst Aircraft Pvt Ltd has also signed a MoU with the Maharashtra government to build an aeroplane manufacturing plant with an investment of US $5.2 billion.
Indian Army also announced an ammunition production project worth more than Us $7.5 billion. Under the project, 11 private firms will manufacture and supply ammunition for the Army’s tanks, rockets, air defence system, artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers and other field weapons. Foxconn would be investing Us $5 billion in the next five years for a research and manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. Saudi Arabian oil giant, Aramco has also signed a deal with a consortium of Indian refiners to build a US $44 billion refineries on the West coast. As a result, India was instated as the top destination globally for foreign direct investments in 2015 with Us $60.1 billion received in FDI. India was able to rise 42 places on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, and 32 places on World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index.
Prasanta Patnaik