Attending the celebrations of suvarna jayanti or golden jubilee of the Aditya Birla Group in Thailand, PM Modi praised the changes happening in the country, saying that this was the best time to be in India. "We are here in Thailand, with whom India has strong cultural linkages. And, we are marking fifty years of a leading Indian industrial house in this nation," he said.
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"India has seen many success stories in the last five years in various sectors. The reason for this is not only the governments. India has stopped working in a routine, bureaucratic manner. You would be shocked to know that for years, money was spent on the poor which did not really reach the poor. Our Government ended this culture thanks to DBT (Direct Benefits Transfer)."
He spoke about the economic developments in the nation. "One area where we have done significant work is taxation. I am happy that India is one of the most people friendly tax regimes. We are committed to further improving it even more," he said. "India received $286 billion FDI in the last five years. This is almost half of the total FDI in India in the last twenty years. India is now pursuing another dream—to become a five trillion dollar economy. When my government took over in 2014, India’s GDP was about $2 trillion. In 65 years, 2 trillion. But in just five years, we increased it to nearly $3 trillion," he said, adding that direct connectivity between ports on Thailand’s west coast and ports on India’s east coast will enhance our economic partnership."
From November 2 to 4, PM Modi will attend the ASEAN-India, East Asia and RCEP summits. Modi is visiting Bangkok at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. He will attend the 16th ASEAN-India summit, 14th East Asia Summit and 3rd Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) summit and related events, she said. Negotiations for resolving outstanding issues on RCEP are going on in Bangkok, she said, adding the leaders will review the state of negotiations at the summit. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) bloc comprises 10 ASEAN group members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners—India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
-Inputs from PTI
