Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India always felt the need for reform but a lack of political willpower and political instability in the three decades preceding his government meant the country had stayed away from reforms as well as from taking big decisions.
Mr. Modi, who was addressing the 20th anniversary celebrations of Indian School of Business (ISB) and the graduation ceremony of its Post Graduate Programme Class of 2022 in Hyderabad, said this highlighting the strides India had made under his government.
“Since 2014, our country is seeing political will and also, reforms are being done continuously. Public support and popular support is assured when reforms are undertaken with determination and political will,” he said, citing the adoption of digital payments by people as an example.
Pointing out that India was emerging a major growth centre, the Prime Minister said “today, the world is realising that India means business.”
He cited various indices, including how India was the fastest growing economy in G-20, number one smartphone data consumer, second in terms of number of internet users as well as in global retail index, home to the world's third largest startup ecosystem and third large consumer market. The FDI received last fiscal was the highest thus far by the country.
Mr. Modi, who spoke in Hindi and addressed the graduating students as mere pyare yuva sathiyon, said the government was with the youth. Urging the graduating students to fuse their goals with those of the country, especially the path of self-reliance or Atmanirbharta that India had set on, he said the Reform, Perform, Transform mantra that was defining governance in the country now was important for them, both as a mechanism to be pursued and as a subject of research.
The Prime Minister said management institutions such as ISB and its students had to play a major role in helping small businesses grow. There was a need to provide more growth opportunities and platforms for small businesses and connecting them to new markets. Their move would help lakhs of entrepreneurs and several crore families dependent on the enterprises. India could become future ready only when it became self-reliant, he said.
ISB Dean Madan Pillutla said it was the first combined graduation of students from the B-school’s Hyderabad and Mohali campuses. As ISB, which was opened in 2001 by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, entered the third decade of existence as it aspired to be a resource for the country and play a part in the positive transformation.
On the occasion, Mr. Modi unveiled a commemorative plaque, released the ISB MyStamp and Special Cover and awarded medals to academic scholars of excellence.
