'Govt doing reforms out of conviction, not compulsion': PM Modi's top quotes at CII meeting

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) annual meeting for the year 2021 and said that the government is ready to take every risk for the interest of the nation. He emphasised that the Centre's reforms are driven out of conviction and not compulsion.
Addressing industry leaders via video conferencing, PM assured that the government stands by the industry and the huge responsibility for the success of the self-reliant India campaign rests on them.
The event -- themed 'India@75: Government and Business Working Together for Aatmanirbhar Bharat' -- saw participation of many ministers, senior officials, academics and prominent representatives of Indian industry.
Here are the top quotes from Modi's address:
'Reforms driven by conviction'
* We took several bold decisions, announced many reforms and continued making new reforms even during the pandemic. The country has stood with those all such announcements.
* For instance, commercial coal mining has been started, new reforms have been done in defence sector, space and atomic sector have been opened up for the private sector amongst a few.
* In the last few years, the changes that have taken place have been witnessed by everyone.

* Our government is ready to take the biggest risk in the interest of the nation. GST was stuck for so many years only because those who earlier in the government could not muster up the courage to take political risks. We not only implemented GST but today we are witnessing record GST collection.
* Recently, we decided to scrap retrospective tax which was praised by the industry. It will strengthen the bond between the government and industry.
'Economic activity picking up pace'
* The several steps taken by the government has led to record FDI in India. We're also creating new records in FPI and the forex reserve is at an all-time high.
* We have also seen reports related to record hiring in the IT sector. This is the result of digitization and growth of demand in the country.
* In such a situation, our effort should be that we use these opportunities, move towards our goals at twice the speed.

'Preference for made in India products'
* There was a time when we used to think that whatever is foreign is better. What was the result of this psychology, industry veterans like you understand very well.
* Even our own brands, which we had built after years of hard work, were promoted under foreign names only.
* However, today the sentiments of Indians is with products made in India.
* It is not necessary that the company should be Indian, but today every Indian wants to adopt products made in India.
'Role of industry important for growth'
* All friends and organisations in the industry are a major part of India's growth story.
* The country is witnessing a strengthening of cooperation between the government and industry, which is propelling economic growth.
* It is the result of the country's faith in our industry that today the ease of doing business is increasing, and the ease of living is increasing. The changes made in the Companies Act are a big example of this.
* India is taking major leaps in ease of doing business ranking and foreign investments are flowing in.

'Robust startup ecosystem'
* Start ups in the country are showing self-confidence. Several unicorns are becoming the image of the nation.
About 7-8 years ago, India might have had just 3-4 unicorns.
* Today, there are nearly 60 unicorns in India. Out of these 60, 21 of them have been developed in the last few months.
* Today, when the youth of India enter the the job market, they do not have any hesitation. They want to work hard, they want to take risks, they want to bring results.
Modi said that the meeting of CII is taking place at a time when India's atmosphere is that if celebrating its 75th Independence Day, in the midst of Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi. This is a big opportunity, for new resolutions, for new goals of the Indian industry.