India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, offered to foreign investors the tantalizing prospect of huge opportunities with his government’s decision to privatize 100 state assets in the oil, gas, ports, airports and power sectors. The opportunities Modi offered amount to investment opportunities worth 2.5 trillion Indian rupees.
"The mantra that the government is moving forward with is monetize and modernize," the Prime Minister said at a webinar on privatization and investments in his government’s budget for the financial year 2021-22. "For those who are associated with us from abroad, there is an open sky of new opportunities in India," he asserted.
"When the government monetizes, the private sector fills that space. The private sector also brings investment, global best practices. Top quality brings manpower changes in the management. This makes things more modernized, it modernizes the entire sector, expands the sector rapidly and creates new opportunities for jobs," Modi said.
Assuring investors that it is the of the government’s responsibility to give full support to commercial enterprises in the country, he said it is no longer possible for the government itself to remain their owners. "That is why I say that the government has no business to be in business."
To ensure that government enterprises are offered for private investment in an orderly, rule-based and transparent manner, the Modi government has announced a National Asset Monetization Pipeline. "With the policy of monetize and modernize, we can increase the efficiency of the entire economy," Modi added.
He said many foreign investors are eager to open their first office in India. To easily facilitate this, Modi offered assistance from the International Financial Centre, known as GIFT City in Ahmedabad in Gujarat state. "The Centre will be governed under an internationally comparable regulatory framework. This can be a great base for you to work."
He said the money raised through privatization will be spent on welfare programs such as building houses for the poor, laying roads in villages, opening schools, and bringing clean drinking water to those who have no access to such facilities.
