ET GLOBAL BUSINESS SUMMIT 2023 HIGHLIGHTS

 “Humanity will be proud of itself after 100 years by studying the capability shown by India during the biggest crisis in 100 years”

India has entered the 'Amrit Kaal' of its independence, a period of national development and glory. To achieve the Prime Minister's vision of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy, the nation's Business leaders, State Governments, and Visionaries must work together to drive 'Economic Change'. Global Business Summit, a flagship initiative of The Times Group, will provide a platform to bring together visionaries, thought leaders, heads of state, policymakers, climate advocates, academicians, and corporate heads to cohesively drive this agenda and exert the momentum needed to achieve this glorious vision.

Global Business Summit 2023 seeks to provide solutions to key macroeconomic challenges by curating government-to-government interactions, business-to-government meetings, and business-to-business engagements to secure investments from domestic and international allies.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, addressed the Economic Times Global Business Summit at Hotel Taj Palace in Delhi on 17 February 2023. He noted the changes that have taken place since his last appearance at the ET Global Business Summit three years ago when WHO declared Covid a pandemic leading to massive rapid changes globally and in India. He also discussed the concept of 'antifragile' and the collective determination of 140 crore Indians during the three years of war and natural calamity. The Prime Minister explained how reimagination came into play when the country gave the current government an opportunity to serve in 2014, and how the government can improve welfare delivery to empower the poor and create infrastructure in a more efficient way. The Prime Minister elaborated on reimagining welfare delivery and talked about the delivery of bank accounts, loans, housing, property rights, toilets, electricity, and clean cooking fuel.

He also remembered former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi's remark that 15 paise out of one rupee reached the intended beneficiaries. Shri Modi said that 10 crore toilets were constructed after 2014, taking sanitation coverage from below 40 percent to 100 percent in rural areas. He also gave examples of aspirational districts, such as institutional deliveries increasing from 47 percent to 91 percent, fully immunized children in the Aspirational District Barwani of Madhya Pradesh increasing from 40 percent to 90 percent, the success rate of TB treatment increasing from 48 percent to nearly 90 percent, and number of Gram Panchayats with broadband connectivity increasing from 20 percent to 80 percent. Regarding clean water supply, the Prime Minister said that only 3 crore tap connections were there in 2014, but in the last three and half years have added 8 crore new tap connections. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, highlighted the transformation of infrastructure in India, from political ambition to a grand strategy.

He noted that highways are being built at a speed of 38 km per day and more than 5 km of rail lines are being laid every day. The number of operational airports has doubled from 74 to 147, and 3.5 lakh kilometers of rural roads and 80 thousand kilometers of national highways have been built. He also highlighted the 1600-plus data layers of infrastructure mapping available on the GatiShakti platform, which can be linked to AI to decide the shortest and most efficient route. The Prime Minister also highlighted the reimagining infrastructure in India's aviation sector, which resulted in 128 air routes being opened up for civilian aircraft movement today, saving both time and fuel. This decision has also reduced 1 lakh tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The Prime Minister of India highlighted the achievements of his government in the last 9 years, such as laying 6 lakh kilometers of optical fiber, increasing the number of mobile manufacturing units, and reducing the rate of internet data. He also highlighted the 'Mai-Baap' culture of the past, which led to an atmosphere of mutual distrust and suspicion between the government and the citizens. After 2014, the 'govt-first' mentality was reimagined as a 'people-first' approach and the government worked on the principle of trusting its citizens. Examples of self-attestation, abolishing interviews from lower rank jobs, decriminalizing small economic offenses, Jan Vishwas Bill, collateral-free Mudra loans, and the government becoming a guarantor for MSMEs were given. The Prime Minister highlighted the reduction in taxes for the increase in gross tax revenue and said that taxpayers get motivated when they know that the tax paid is being spent efficiently.

He also touched upon faceless assessment and the Income Tax Department processing more than 6.5 crore returns this year. He emphasised that India's prosperity is the world's prosperity and that the theme of One World, One Family, One Future chosen for G-20 contains solutions to many challenges. He called upon everyone present to get involved in India's development journey as much as possible, as it gives them a guarantee of growth.

He told the world to keep an eye on India because we are going to create history by growing at the most exponential rate known to mankind. 

Come, Grow with India.