Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the coronavirus crisis should be turned into an opportunity to make India self-reliant. The current times call for making bold decisions and investments, he also said while addressing the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Kolkata through video conference.
Modi also called for the need to take steps to make sure that products imported from overseas are manufactured in the country.
“In the last five-six years, India’s goal of self-reliance has been paramount in the policy and practice of the country. The COVID-19 crisis gave us lessons on how to speed up efforts in that direction…This is not the time for a conservative approach; this is time for bold decisions and investments,” Modi said.
“This also is the time to move from command and control economy to plug-and-play and to build a competitive global supply chain.” he added.
Modi said that India has already seen various significant reforms such as amendment to the definition of MSMEs, decriminalising certain things (under the Companies Act), introducing Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, bringing in more competition in coal mining, altering the APMC and the Essential Commodities Act.
“It is the government’s initiative to help the east and the north-east where Kolkata can emerge as the fulcrum….to lead the entire development process,” he added. The banking services in the country have now reached the “have nots”, he noted.
