Greater appetite in world for investing in India: Jaishankar

Addressing a business event in Cyprus, Jaishankar said the technological and infrastructure progress that India has made in the last few years has clearly created a "greater appetite in the world for investing in India."

"Where India is concerned, it is a fairly objective statement today to make that we are getting increasingly prominent in the global economy. Out trade policies and reforms which were undertaken during this period and the inherent economic strength, all in a sense channeled by a clear economic vision of the Modi government has contributed to us becoming one of the strong destinations for inward foreign direct investment," Jaishankar said.

"Also the technological and infrastructure progress that we have made in the last few years, has clearly created a greater appetite in the world for investing in India. But it has also increased our own capabilities where trade and other economic activities are concerned," he added.

Jaishankar stated that India used the time under Covid pandemic to carry out very ambitious economic reforms.

"Some of them were in the making since 2014. The Make in India Initiative and the Amanibhar Bharat which is a sort of self-reliance for promoting greater capacities within India. These were taken by the government in a much more focused way," the External Affairs Minister said.

He added that the goal is to make India a major manufacturing hub and emerge as a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025.

Jaishankar also drew attention to the successes of the Productive Linked Incentive (PLI) program which intends to increase production based in India. "We are doing this not just for our own prospects, obviously, that is important but also because we believe that in the post covid era, the global economy will be looking for more resilient and reliable supply chains," he added.

Furthermore, the External Affairs Minister said one of the big lessons to have come from the covid experience is that the world has to derisk the global economy with more production options for global consumers. "Certainly, it is our strategy in the post covid era to position ourselves as a much greater manufacturer, trader, and service provider. And all these have direct implications for businesses in Cyprus," he added.

During his address, Jaishankar noted that India-Cypruss bilateral trade has understandably "gone up and down" due to the impact of Covid on both economies. "Last year, the financial bilateral trade by our financial year was USD 214 million. I know we have higher numbers before and we can do that again."

Jaishankar noted that pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, ceramic products, and electrical machinery are some of the major items of export from India to Cyprus. "If one looks at the basket of our trade, clearly there is a lot of potential to explore more." (ANI)