‘Open Minds, Open Markets’: 6 Sectors Where PM Modi Invites US For Global Investment in India

"Global economic resilience can be achieved by stronger domestic economic capacities. This means improved domestic capacity for manufacturing, restoring the health of the financial system and diversification of international trade," PM Modi said in his speech.

India Ideas Summit 2020: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday delivered the keynote address at the 2020 India Ideas Summit hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and invited global investment in the key sectors of India’s economy.

“Global economic resilience can be achieved by stronger domestic economic capacities. This means improved domestic capacity for manufacturing, restoring the health of the financial system and diversification of international trade,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during his speech.

“India is contributing towards a prosperous and resilient world through the clarion call of an Atmanirbhar Bharat. For that, we await your partnership,” he added.

Notably, this year marks the 45th anniversary of the formation of the USIBC, and the theme for this year’s summit was ‘Building a Better Future’.

Six major sectors in which PM Modi invited global investment:

1. Healthcare 

Amid the ongoing deadly coronavirus pandemic, the country’s healthcare infrastructure plays the most important role.

Inviting foreign investments in the sector, PM Modi said, “The Healthcare sector in India is growing faster than 22 per cent every year. Our companies are also progressing in production of medical-technology, telemedicine and diagnostics.”

2. Civil Aviation

India’s civil aviation is one of the fastest-growing sectors that holds great potential for international investment, PM Modi noted.

“The number of air passengers are expected to more than double within next 8 years. The top private Indian airlines plan to include over a thousand new aircraft over the coming decade,” PM Modi said.

3. Defence and Space

The Prime Minister called for global investment in one of the world’s strongest defence sectors, as well as the emerging space sector. India has been raising the FDI cap for the defence sector to 74 per cent, PM Modi stated, adding that the country has already established two defence corridors to encourage the production of defence equipment and platforms.

4. Finance and Insurance

After witnessing a drastic economic slowdown since last year, India invited investments in the finance and insurance sectors. “India has raised FDI cap for investment in insurance to 49%. Now 100% FDI is permitted for investment in insurance intermediaries,” PM Modi said.

5. Clean Energy

Inviting investments in the energy sector as India evolves into a gas-based economy, PM Modi said, “There will be big investment opportunities for US companies. There are also opportunities in clean energy. To generate more power for your investment, this is the best time to enter the Indian power sector.”

6. Technology

One of the country’s fastest booming industries, PM Modi said that the opportunities in technology include a wide range starting with “the frontier technologies of 5G, Big data analytics, Quantum computing, Block-chain and Internet of things”.

“India is emerging as a land of opportunities. Let me give you one example of the tech sector. Recently, an interesting report came out in India. It said for the first time ever, there are more rural internet users than even urban internet users,” PM Modi said.

Notably, leading search engine aggregator Google recently invested $4.5 billion in top Indian telecom network, Reliance Industries (RIL) owned Reliance Jio, for a 7.73% stake in the company.