In a keynote address to the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi projected India as a country with a vast market and strong and stable fundamentals, and exhorted world leaders to consider India as an attractive destination for doing business. He then went on to outline “the five pillars” of India’s development agenda:
- Modi’s first pillar of support to improve the business climate in India is instituting much needed reforms. Recent reforms in India have touched many facets of India’s economy: direct tax, banking, creating a digital database of citizens, expanding the tax base, controlling inflation and corruption, and reducing fiscal deficit. Indeed, there has been a sharp rise in FDI in the past three years–from $36 billion in 2014 to $60 billion in 2017. Modi added that India “has resolved many regulatory and policy issues facing businesses, investors and companies,” and its states are now competing to attract business investment.
- The second avenue of support for business is the increasing use of technology to transform governance and deliver public entitlements and services. Both the Federal and State governments are deploying technology to ensure that time-bound decisions are delivered to business entities.
- The third pillar to improve the economy is the Indian government’s focus on upgrading physical infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports in tier I, II and III cities, as well as sea ports. “The scale and scope of this task is immense. Our Sagarmala [meaning, sea necklace] project seeks to connect our long coastline and ports to the hinterland,” he said.
- The prime minister said he was aware that India needs to be aligned with the world in major policy areas such as “the entry and exit of businesses, IPRs, or arbitration and commercial adjudication. We have moved very decisively to brush up the framework to bring them in line with global best practices,” he added.
- “The fifth pillar is inclusive economic development. As I said, the biggest reason for fracture within the countries is inequality and disparity leading to divide and distrust,” stated Modi.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
