The 4D advantage of Democracy gives confidence to investors says Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: India has the 4D (Four-dimensional) advantage of Democracy that gives investors an assurance that they will not be discriminated in the country, said Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal on Tuesday. Speaking at 27th CITIC CLSA India Forum in Mumbai Union Minister highlighted the favorable business environment in the country adding that India has the advantage of having a state of healthy democracy, demographic dividend, demand, and decisive leadership.

"India has the 4D advantage, Democracy, the rule of law, which gives investors comfort that they will not be discriminated against and they'll have a fair deal, they'll have recourse to law," Goyal said. Goyal said India's demographic dividend and young population will give added benefit to investors. "Demographic dividend with one of the world's youngest large population expected to continue to be young for the next three decades...demand for goods and services, the demand that 1.4 billion people generate itself is a big attraction for investment." Said Goyal.

India aims to become a developed nation and a USD 35 trillion economy by 2047 giving investors an added opportunity. "The delta of opportunity that we offer as we grow towards becoming a developed nation, a prosperous nation, in the next 23 years, from a USD 3.5 trillion economy to a USD 35 trillion economy by 2047 is probably the world's greatest business opportunity today," Goyal added.

Answering questions from the audience the minister highlighted India's unique position in the world economy and how India's story of development is different from other countries. "India has three or four unique situations. We are the world's largest recipient of remittances. Last year, it was, I think, USD 125 billion and it's growing every year. Even during COVID, when one could have thought remittances would fall, it continued to grow.

So that's a very stable pool of money coming into the country, irrespective of anything else," he said explaining the strong forex reserve of the country. Interestingly Commerce and Industry Minister pointed out that the high import figures of the country are co-related to exports, the imported items are exported after value additions which contribute positively to the country's trade.

"A lot of our imports are directly correlated to our exports.... if one looks at the India import basket, we have food secure now except pulses and edible oils, only two items, the rest we are all absolutely in the surplus category," he said. Goyal invited the private sector to monetise on government's investments. "We would invite private sector investments to come in and monetize some of this government investment, we won't make a loss."

The minister asked the private sector to make long-term investments in the country and become a partner in India's growth story. "We need the government to continue to focus on intra-investments. We need to continue to grow the way we are or not any amount of debate, but the private sector would benefit significantly if they are looking for long-term returns and stable returns on infrastructure," said Goyal.