The Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley ji, Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu ji, Vice President of the World Bank, Mr. Schafer, Anand Mahindra ji, Rashesh Shah ji, Soumitra Bhattacharya ji, B.K Goenka ji, Ramesh Bharti Mittal Ji,  representatives from the world of business and the other dignitaries present here. I welcome all of you at Lok Kalyan Marg. One of the reasons for inviting you all here today is to not only offer my best wishes for Diwali but also to congratulate and express my gratitude to you all for you have pulled out the country from a difficult and undesirable situation to a respectable one. You have carried the nation to new heights in terms of Ease of Doing Business. I would like to thank everyone including the ones who are not present here today.

The innumerable government officials, employees, officials in different positions in Municipal Corporation, officials who are supposed to give clearances at the Port and the airport and the people from the business world too have played a significant role in this. I remember that four and a half years ago when I had said for the first time that we would be in the top 50 in the coming years, many people dismissed it believing it to be outlandish. It was difficult for the people to believe that India could find her place even in top 100 considering the instability and policy paralysis that were prevalent prior to 2014. So, I believe it was not the fault of such people. It was quite natural for the people not to believe what I had said back then, as  all they could read and hear in news was about corruption, scams, unstable economy, uncontrolled fiscal deficit and the world saying that India would skid and drown the other countries as well. But you can see the 180 degree change that swept the nation in just four years.

In terms of Ease of Doing Business, we have jumped from 142nd rank to 77th rank. We have crossed almost half of it.

 

Friends,

This is a jump of 65 points in just four years. This is an unprecedented record for any country. Today, India is ranked one in South Asia in terms of Ease of Doing Business while we were ranked 6, four years ago. For the second consecutive year, India has joined the list of top 10 countries in terms of such improvement levels. In the last 7-8 years, no other country has made an improvement of 53 ranks within two years.

Friends,

We could accomplish something that no one around the world could have imagined ever.

We are just a few steps away from our goal of reaching the top 50. As per the World Bank report, India has improved its performance in 8 out of 10 parameters. In two parameters, we have made a jump of more than 100 ranks.

We are continuously working with the State Governments on the goals of improving the rank, to bring an atmosphere of change in the country. Our state governments have enthusiastically participated to strengthen cooperative competitive federalism further. Now we are moving towards the implementation of the reforms related to Ease of Doing Business at district level. We are continuously in touch with the stakeholders and the state governments to decide upon the roadmap for the same. Efforts are being made to create a single ranking system at district level in the states. We are trying to provide rankings to the districts so that there is a competition amongst the districts with an enthusiasm to move ahead.

Friends,

Business, trade and entrepreneurship are needed for our country's growth, infrastructure development, increase in employment opportunities and per capita income. This will be possible only when investment takes place and the business and trade moves in the right direction and the common man benefits out of it. Therefore, we are emphasizing on policy driven governance and predictable transparent policies. We are trying to reduce discretion. Many of you must have realized that the rankings assigned by the World Bank often do not take into consideration several parameters or things that we are working on. The rankings are calculated on the basis of only few parameters while our strategy of Reform, Perform and Transform is extensive. In fact, the aim of our strategy for bringing about reforms goes beyond the World Bank rankings. We are working towards making the lives of the common man, the small businessmen easier and to improve their ease of living. As the Ease of Doing Business is improving in our country today, it is helping the small businessmen to carry out their businesses smoothly; they can comfortably transport their goods to other cities; people are getting electricity connection easily and receiving government approvals and important permits fast. These are the efforts that tend to inspire the aspirations of the people of India and the needs and expectations of the country have been taken into consideration.

Friends,

Several other important decisions have been taken to make the country's business environment transparent. Our government has transformed not only the mindset but also the approach. The GST, demonetization, law related to Benami property, insolvency code or laws related to fugitive economic criminals are all examples of this commitment. Due to these efforts of the government, the country's corrupt are now fearful and the honest people are getting due prestige.  Now more and more people have started paying taxes. They have started believing that their money paid in tax is being utilized in a correct way.

Friends,

You are also aware of the fact that these decisions and reforms were not easy. The techniques had to be modified; the laws and the software had to be changed. Sometimes, changing the software is easy but changing the habit is more challenging. It was not an easy task to prepare the system for these reforms. But we were successful in accomplishing this task within a very short span of time. Today we are moving in the direction of making the various levels of the entangled system business and citizen friendly. In the last four years, more than 1400 archaic laws in the country have been done away with. Earlier it used to take 1500 days on an average to resolve a commercial dispute -1500 days which means 4 years. After a lot of effort, the time period has been reduced to 400 days. We are striving to reduce it further. Before 2014, the time taken for clearance of imported products was on an average 280 hours which has now been reduced to less than 144 hours. We will shorten this time as well. Earlier the environmental clearances used to take years and months but now it takes only a few weeks. Recently, environmental clearances for the construction work and other menial work have been decentralized and entrusted to the local bodies. GST has strengthened the country's logistics sector. The turn-around time has now decreased by almost 15 per cent compared to previous regime. It has saved time and money of the companies. Earlier the businessmen had to fill up 50-60 different registers to follow labour laws. Our government has reduced the number of these registers to just 5. That is, the same work that required 50-60 registers is being easily done by 5 registers. The old system has been changed forever. Similarly, earlier it used to take 3-4 weeks for getting passports, while now people get their passports in less than a week. Earlier people had to wait for 8-10 months for receiving their income tax refunds but the same thing is being done in a few weeks now. You might remember that about 4-5 years back news such as - railway reservation website getting crashed due to heavy traffic, used to make headlines. We have upgraded and updated the website to handle heavy traffic and it has helped crores of railway passengers. Initiatives like the cleanliness campaign being run from the streets to the railway platforms are all for improving the quality of life of the common man. The government has made modifications in the laws to ensure that women don't face any difficulty working in night shifts. Laws have also been modified to ensure that the small shopkeepers and businessmen can keep their shops open till late at night.

Friends,

Recently we have made a major effort for the MSME sector. Now the businessmen associated with GST will get loans of up to Rs.1 crore in just 59 minutes. Besides, decisions have been taken to increase the production, to increase the scope of the market and to avoid the hassles associated with licensing and investigation. The institutions or companies which are creating new job opportunities are also being given financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana. Under this scheme, the government is making 8.3 percent of the EPF contribution for three years on creating new job opportunities. The government has also changed the Apprenticeship Act and is implementing a new apprenticeship incentive scheme. Under the scheme, when the employer keeps apprentice, the government pays one fourth amount of the stipend to them. Many industries are joining this system.

Friends,

I am a person who believes in Minimum Government and Maximum Governance. Consequently, India's present image is being enhanced by the fact that it's moving on the trajectory of improvement. Reforms are underway to make the lives of the people easier. India's position has either improved or is in the process of improvement in the rankings of IMF, Moody's, World Economic Forum or UNCTAD. More importantly, these institutions are fully confident and optimistic about the future of India, given the progress and speed of our reforms.

Friends,

These relentless efforts will soon place India into the 5 trillion dollar club. In order to accomplish this goal, we need to improve every sector of the economy. We also need to keep in mind that the definitions of the different sectors are changing. Now manufacturing and services are becoming complementary to each other. There is a value addition in the Manufacturing Sector from the Services Sector and some of the factors of Manufacturing Sector improve the Services Sector. New technologies, Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology have now become an essential part of manufacturing ecosystem. We must keep this change in mind.

Friends,

The government is working on the Industrial Policy for better implementation of basic changes and incorporating realities into development; a policy that can understand the industry in new ways and explain the new dimensions to the industry. These industrial policies will be in line with the new vision of the entrepreneurs of New India. The importance of Ease of Doing Business will remain intact in this industrial policy.

Friends,

We now have to make concerted efforts to get into the top 50 in the rankings of the Ease of Doing Business. In the coming days, I am going to organize review meetings with different departments related to this topic. The decisions that will be implemented by December this year will impact the rankings next year. All your efforts in every sector such as clean energy sector, digital world, health sector, mobility will take the nation forward and make it self-reliant. In today's system, human intervention needs to be minimized in all the processes. For this to fructify, there is a dire need for maximizing the use of modern digital technology in every area of life. We must develop a work culture in which people will not have to visit a government office or agency office to submit forms, documents and fees. Such a work culture will strengthen policy driven governance. We need your suggestions to deliver the benefits of Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living to every citizen of the country.

Friends,

The self-confidence and faith that you possess right now is my greatest strength. I welcome every advice and suggestion from you. Mahendra ji was saying that even the corporate sector doesn't set targets the way Modi ji is setting. The people of Gujarat are taught in their childhood or may be every child is taught the same - 'Nishan chook Maaf, Nahi Maaf Nichu Nishan'. This means that one can forgive a target missed but not if the target is set lower. This has been my mantra that the goal set should be within our reach but not in the grip. It should appear that we will be able to catch it if we jump. One should believe that it is close. With this psychology I am in a habit of setting the targets. I believe that this concept has emerged in our country and has been producing results.

 

And once again, I end my speech by congratulating you all.

Thanks a lot!

 

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