AFP, Gandhinagar :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will showcase his fiefdom of Gujarat today to political and business leaders, trying to demonstrate how the thriving western state can be the role model for India’s economic transformation.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and World Bank supremo Jim Yong Kim will join a host of executives at the “Vibrant Gujarat” investment summit, alongside India’s premier.
Modi was Gujarat chief minister for 13 years before leading his Bharatiya Janata Party to a landslide election win in May, and much of his appeal centred around his economic stewardship of the coastal state.
Under the previous left-leaning Congress government, investors frequently complained about a hostile business climate in India, frustrated by bureaucracy and corruption.
In contrast, Gujarat won a reputation as India’s most investor-friendly state during the era of ‘Modi-nomics’, even if critics say he tilted the playing field in favour of big business through tax breaks and subsidies.
In its latest edition, The Economist said Gujarat “punches above its weight” and that the state’s annual GDP growth rate under Modi was almost 10 percent on average, faster than the country as a whole.
“Gujarat is richer, enjoys faster GDP growth and a greater intensity of jobs and industry than India as a whole. Mr Modi’s reputation for clean government and economic competence rests on his record here,” it said.
One of the big draws has been the relative ease of land acquisition while infrastructure is impressive.
The commercial hub Ahmedabad and provincial capital Gandhinagar-which is hosting the three-day summit-are devoid of the transport gridlock that blights most cities. Power cuts are rare. Ban is expected to tour a solar panel plant Sunday while Kerry will visit a Ford auto factory which is to be shortly inaugurated.
Modi has unleashed a slew of reforms after growth slowed to its lowest rate for a decade under the dying days of Congress.
As well as simplifying labour rules, he has made manufacturing a priority in an echo of his time in Gujarat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will showcase his fiefdom of Gujarat today to political and business leaders, trying to demonstrate how the thriving western state can be the role model for India’s economic transformation.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and World Bank supremo Jim Yong Kim will join a host of executives at the “Vibrant Gujarat” investment summit, alongside India’s premier.
Modi was Gujarat chief minister for 13 years before leading his Bharatiya Janata Party to a landslide election win in May, and much of his appeal centred around his economic stewardship of the coastal state.
Under the previous left-leaning Congress government, investors frequently complained about a hostile business climate in India, frustrated by bureaucracy and corruption.
In contrast, Gujarat won a reputation as India’s most investor-friendly state during the era of ‘Modi-nomics’, even if critics say he tilted the playing field in favour of big business through tax breaks and subsidies.
In its latest edition, The Economist said Gujarat “punches above its weight” and that the state’s annual GDP growth rate under Modi was almost 10 percent on average, faster than the country as a whole.
“Gujarat is richer, enjoys faster GDP growth and a greater intensity of jobs and industry than India as a whole. Mr Modi’s reputation for clean government and economic competence rests on his record here,” it said.
One of the big draws has been the relative ease of land acquisition while infrastructure is impressive.
The commercial hub Ahmedabad and provincial capital Gandhinagar-which is hosting the three-day summit-are devoid of the transport gridlock that blights most cities. Power cuts are rare. Ban is expected to tour a solar panel plant Sunday while Kerry will visit a Ford auto factory which is to be shortly inaugurated.
Modi has unleashed a slew of reforms after growth slowed to its lowest rate for a decade under the dying days of Congress.
As well as simplifying labour rules, he has made manufacturing a priority in an echo of his time in Gujarat.
