Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged India Inc to increase investment in tandem with the government’s decision to raise capital expenditure (capex) and take advantage of the opportunities unveiled in the Budget 2023-24.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said RuPay and UPI technologies are India’s identity
in the world.
“In the era of ‘Industry 4.0’, platforms developed by India are becoming models for the world,” PM Modi said while addressing a post-Budget webinar on the subject of ‘Enhancing Efficiency of the Financial Services for Creating Growth Opportunities’. This was the tenth of the series of 12 webinars being organised by the government. The objective behind hosting the webinars is to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023.
“In the era of ‘Industry 4.0’, platforms developed by India are becoming models for the world,” he said giving examples of Government e Marketplace (GeM) and digital transactions.
He said that in the 75th year of independence, 75,000 crore transactions were done digitally, which shows how wide the expansion of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become.
“RuPay and UPI are not just a low-cost and highly secure technology, but it is our identity in the world. There is immense scope for innovation. UPI should become a means of financial inclusion and empowerment for the whole world, we have to collectively work for it. I suggest that our financial institutions should also have maximum partnership with fintechs to increase their reach,” he said.
Addressing the 10th webinar on Budget, Modi said the government has increased outlay on capex to a historic high of Rs 10 lakh crore.
He further said that India is being described as a bright spot of the global economy and the country has attracted the highest FDI in the country in the year 2021-22 with major part going into manufacturing sector.
“I would also call upon the private sector of the country to increase their investment just like the government so that the country gets maximum benefit from it,” he said while talking about the key proposals of the Budget.
He stressed that applications are continuously pouring in to avail of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme which makes India an important part of the global supply chain.
“Today, the need of the hour is that the benefits of the strength in India’s banking system should reach the maximum number of people,” he said.
Giving an example of the government’s support to the MSME sector, the prime minister asked the banking system to reach out to the maximum number of sectors.
“1 crore 20 lakh MSMEs have received huge help from the government during the pandemic. In this year’s budget, the MSME sector has also got additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of 2 lakh crores. Now it is very important that our banks reach out to them and provide them adequate finance,” he said.
For the first time, he said, more than 40 lakh street vendors and small shopkeepers received help from banks through PM Swanidhi Yojana.
The prime minister said that the entire world is witnessing the impact of India’s fiscal and monetary policy during the COVID-19 pandemic and lauding its efforts in strengthening the fundamentals of the country’s economy in the last 9 years.
“We have to see which are the areas where we can save the country’s money by building capacity in India itself,” he said citing examples of higher education and edible oil where a lot of money goes out.
The prime minister said Indian talent, infrastructure and innovators can take the Indian financial system to the top.