India is a partner that the lately expanded BRICS can count on. The country never holds hostage its supply chains for geopolitical reasons or economic interests: Smriti Irani
Our Bureau
Davos
India is looking to attract annual foreign direct investment (FDI) to the tune of USD 100 billion “in the next few years”, Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum. “We see 6-8 per cent consistent growth rate over the next full decade, and this is based on a very clearly thought-out strategy. This strategy has four major engines,” the minister told Reuters in an interview.
The four engines he listed are investment in infrastructure, (both physical and digital), lifting up those at the bottom pyramid of the population, boosting manufacturing, and simplifying ease of doing business.
Earlier, speaking at the World Economic forum Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that trust was India’s biggest capital. “If you look at how India has conducted its foreign policy, its economic policy, the way it has conducted itself – the entire world has developed a very big amount of trust on India. That trust is what is our biggest capital. That trust gels the entire world into a very harmonious way. For eg, we have signed an MoU with the US, Europe, Japan on semiconductors, we are working with South Korean govt & South Korean companies. It’s like every possible company wants to collaborate with India in one way or the other. So, we don’t think that it’s a battle, we think that there is enough for everybody. It’s a question of how much importance we give and how much talent we put into it and how much focussed we are on it…” the Minister said.
India attracted FDI inflows of USD 33 billion in the first six months of the current financial year that started in April 2023. It recorded FDI of USD 71 billion in the 2022-23 financial year, according to the news report.
India is a partner that the lately expanded BRICS can count on, said Union Minister Smriti Irani, adding that the country never holds hostage its supply chains for geopolitical reasons or economic interests.
“We have shown (the world) what we can do as a part of the global supply chain, by not holding our supply chain hostage for geopolitical reasons, not subjugating our supply chain for any other political or economic interests.” the Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said at a session themed ‘BRICS in expansion’ at the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“I think we are the one partner the BRICS expanded lately can count on,” Smriti Irani said.
The BRICS grouping, initially forged in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has undergone an expansion in 2024. The newly included member countries are Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.
Also, Union Minister for petroleum and natural gas, and housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said that India has a cost advantage in production of green energy and electrolysers. “In the Indian energy story, the thing that stands out is that in the next 20 years, 25% of the increase in global demand is going to come from India,” said Puri at the CII-Bain session on ‘Green Hydrogen Opportunity in India’ at Davos 2024.
“If you look at the costs, the India advantage is that we are able to significantly reduce the cost of production of green solar energy and electrolyzers” he added.
Among other speakers at the session were Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew, Jorgen Sandstrom, Head, Transforming Industrial Ecosystems, World Economic Forum, and Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, chairman, Indian Oil Corporation.
Hardep Puri also met Vimal Kapur, Global CEO of Honeywell. During the meeting the Minister proposed fostering stronger collaborations between Indian companies and Honeywell to work for the global Sustainable Aviation Fuel opportunity. They also discussed opportunities along the green hydrogen value chain including further R and D, technology transfer, manufacturing & development of electrolysers in India. They also discussed possible collaborations in areas of Biofuels, Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage, & the Global Biofuels Alliance. The Minister invited the CEO to participate in the India Energy Week to be held in Goa in February 2024.
