Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed optimism about India’s growth story and said that India will celebrate its 100th year of Independence in 2047 as a developed country.

While speaking at the CII post-Budget conference in Delhi, PM Modi said: “We achieved independence as a poor nation and those who wished to exploit us did so until the very end. In 100 years after overcoming numerous challenges and meeting our goals, India will mark its 100th year of independence as a developed country in 2047.”

Advertisement

Referring to the uncertainties of the current global scenario, the Prime Minister highlighted the exception of India’s growth and stability. India’s foreign exchange reserve witnessed robust growth and India is showing high growth and low inflation in a low-growth and high-inflation global scenario.

He also called India’s fiscal prudence during the pandemic, a role model for the world. India’s contribution to global goods and services export is consistently increasing.

The PM emphasized that India’s contribution to global growth has reached 16% despite significant global shocks like the pandemic, natural disasters and wars.

“Nation is moving forward with the resolutions of Viksit Bharat”, PM Modi said as he mentioned that 25 crore people have risen out of poverty in the last 10 years, and emphasized the government’s efforts to increase ease of living and boost quality of life.

PM Modi further said that the government’s intent and commitment are very clear and there is no diversion in its direction.

The commitment of ‘Nation First’ is reflected in the 5 trillion dollar economy goal, saturation approach, emphasis on Zero Effect-Zero Defect and pledge of Aatmnirbhar Bharat or Viksit Bharat.

He highlighted the focus and emphasis on expansion and monitoring of schemes.

PM Modi also compared the current Budget of Rs 48 Lakh Crore with Rs 16 Lakh Crore Budget of 2013-14, an increase of three times.

Capital Expenditure, the biggest measure of resource investment was 90 thousand crore rupees in 2004, which was taken to 2 lakh crore in the 10 years upto 2014, a 2 times increase, he highlighted.

Reiterating that his government is determined to look after every sector of the Indian economy, he said, “If you will look at different sectors, you will get an idea as to how India is focussing on each one of them.”

Drawing a comparison with the previous government, PM Modi said in the last 10 years, the budgets of railways and highways have seen an increase of 8 times.

Meanwhile, the agricultural and defense budgets have witnessed a jump of more than 4 and 2 times, respectively.

“In 2014, MSMEs earning Rs 1 crore had to pay presumptive tax, now MSMEs with income up to Rs 3 crore can also take advantage of this. In 2014, MSMEs earning up to Rs 50 crore had to pay 30 percent tax, today this rate is 22 percent. In 2014, companies used to pay 30 percent corporate tax, today this rate is 25 percent for companies with income up to Rs 400 crore,” he said.