friends!

　　i am really happy to be here with you. before coming to this forum, i had very detaileddiscussion with the ceos of major chinese companies. i am sure our interactions today will leadto benefits to the people and businesses of the two countries.

　　along with me, a number of officials and prominent indian ceos, are also present here.

　　as you know, china and india are two great and old civilisations of the world. they haveprovided many lights of knowledge on the entire human society. today, we together, representmore than one third of the global population.

　　india and china have a common history of five thousand years and a common boundary ofover three thousand and four hundred kilometers.

　　two thousand years ago, at the invitation of the chinese emperor ming, two indian monkscame to china. they brought many sanskrit scriptures on two white horses. they translatedmany buddhist classics and scriptures into chinese language.

　　it is believed that they introduced buddhism in china. the king built a temple in honour of thisevent. the temple is popularly known as white horse temple. the temple then increased inimportance as buddhism grew within china, and spread to korea, japan and vietnam.

　　the serenity of buddhism in asian countries is the seed of their success. i strongly believe thatthis century belongs to asia. and buddhism will be a further unifying and catalysing forceamong the asian countries.

　　your famous scholars like fa hien and hiuen tsang have taught many secrets of chinesewisdom to indians. in addition, they discovered many secrets within india itself. hiuen tsanghad visited my own home town in gujarat. from his works, we know today that there was abuddhist monastery there. when hiuen tsang returned to china he brought with him sanskritscriptures and books of wisdom. the traditional systems of medicine of the two countriesbased on natural elements also have a lot in common.

　　in recent times too, this stream of knowledge is flowing across our borders. prof. ji xianlin ofpeking university was a great sanskrit scholar. he spent most part of his life in translatingvalmiki’s ramayan into chinese. indian government has honoured him by bestowing aprestigious award in XX.

　　more recently, prof. jin ding han has translated tulasi ramayan into chinese. translations ofbhagwad gita and mahabharat are also popular with the chinese people. i thank these chinesescholars for introducing indian culture to the chinese people.

　　friends! india has always been a knowledge society. whereas, you have been an innovatingsociety. ancient china was highly advanced in science and technology. like indians, chinesetoo sailed to americas and distant corners of the world in their ships. they had the mariners’compass and gun powder.

　　but i must add that during this time, indian astronomy and mathematics were quite popularin china. indian astronomers were appointed on the official boards set up to prepare calendars.

　　the indian concept of zero and that of nine planets have been helpful in discoveries in china.so, our ideas had a role to play in your innovations.

　　thus, we have a lot in common and we can do a lot together. as we helped each other growingspiritually, we have to help each other growing economically. there are instances of sucheconomic exchanges in the past. it is believed that china gave silk and paper to india. we bothhave potentials of growth and problems of poverty which we can tackle together. i ampersonally committed to take the co-operative process forward.

　　that is why even as chief minister of gujarat, i visited china. as prime minister too i amconvinced and committed for exchange and co-operation for socio-economic development ofthe two countries.

　　i have lot of hope from the relationship which i and president xi are trying to build. during hisvisit to india in september XX, chinese investments worth 20 billion us dollars (rs. 12 lakh-crore) were committed. we signed 12 agreements covering industrial parks, railways, creditand leasing, with cumulative amount of investments of 13 billion us dollars.

　　we are very keen to develop the sectors where china is strong. we need your involvement.the scope and potential, the breadth and length of infrastructure and related developmentsis very huge in india. just to give you some examples:

　　– we have planned to build 50 million houses by 2022. in addition, we are going to developsmart cities and mega industrial corridors;

　　– for this purpose, we have refined our fdi policy in construction. we are also coming upwith a regulatory framework for this sector;

　　– we have targeted 175 giga watts of renewable energy in next few years. in addition togeneration, the issues of transmission and distribution of electricity are equally important forus;

　　– we are modernizing our railway systems including signals, engines and railway stations. weare planning metro rail in fifty cities and high speed trains in various corridors;

　　– similar is the case with highways which we want to build in faster way;

　　– we are putting up new ports and modernizing the old ones through an ambitious plan calledsagarmala;

　　– similar focus is on upgrading the existing airports and putting up regional airports toenhance connectivity to places of economic and tourist importance;

　　– in financial services too, we are moving towards a more inclusive and faster delivery offinancial products including bank loans and insurance;

　　– for this purpose we opened 140 million bank accounts; increased fdi in insurance up to49% and have set up mudra bank to fund the micro-businesses;

　　– recently, i have launched innovative schemes for insurance and pension to enhancesocial security of our citizens.

　　in march this year, i had a discussion with jack ma of alibaba in delhi about possible co-operation for strengthening this micro-credit sector of india.

　　as you have successfully done, we also want to promote manufacturing in a big wayparticularly to create jobs for our youth who form 65% of our population.

　　hence, we want to make things in india. for this purpose, we have launched a campaign called“make in india”. it is also the effort of my government to encourage innovation, r&dand entrepreneurship in the country. in this year’s budget, we have set up some innovativeinstitutional mechanisms for that purpose.

　　we have to learn from you about the development of labor-intensive industries, creatingconditions for sustainable foreign direct investment, skill development, infrastructure creationand export-led development model.

　　all this is a historic opportunity for the chinese companies. you would already be knowing thedirection of my government and the steps we are taking. we have committed ourselves forcreating and improving the business environment. i can assure you that once you decide tobe in india, we are confident to make you more and more comfortable.

　　many chinese companies have the possibility of investing in india to take advantage of india’spotentials. the potential lies in manufacturing, processing as well as in infrastructure.

　　i am here to assure you that india’s economic environment has changed. our regulatoryregime is much more transparent, responsive and stable. we are taking a long-term andfuturistic view on the issues. lot of efforts have been made and are still underway to improvethe ‘ease of doing business’. we do believe that fdi is important and it will not come in thecountry without a globally competitive business environment. therefore, we have rationalizeda number of issues which were bothering the investors.

　　in particular,

　　– we are making the taxation system transparent, stable and predictable.

　　– we have removed lot of regressive taxation regimes. in our very first budget, we said we willnot resort to retrospective taxation.

　　– we are reducing the complicated procedures, making them available at one platform,preferably online;

　　– simplifying the forms and formats has been taken up on war footing.

　　– definite mechanisms for hand holding have been set up in the form of hub and spoke model.invest india is the nodal agency for this purpose.

　　– in this year’s budget, we allowed tax pass through for aifs, rationalization of capital gainsof reits, modification in pe norms and deferring the implementation of gaar for two years.

　　– we have fast tracked approvals in industry and infrastructure. this includes environmentalclearances, extending the industrial licences, delicencing of defence items, and simplification ofcross-border trade.

　　– within a very short time, we introduced gst bill in parliament.

　　similarly, for infrastructure development, we have taken some far reaching steps.

　　– first of all we have made an all-time high allocation for roads and railways sectors.

　　– in addition, we are setting up india infrastructure investment fund.

　　– we have also allowed tax free bonds in the infrastructure sector including roads and railways.

　　we know that a lot more has to be done. but we are committed to take this process forward.we are constantly working to improve the business environment further.

　　however, our initial measures have helped in building up an enhanced investor confidence.the sentiments for private investment and inflow of foreign investment are positive. fdi inflowshave gone up by 39% during april-XX and february-XX against the same period inprevious year;

　　our growth rate is above 7%. most of the international financial institutions including the worldbank, imf, oecd and others are predicting even faster growth and even better in the comingyears. moody’s have recently upgraded the rating of india as positive on account of ourconcrete steps in various economic fields.

　　friends! india-chinese partnership should and will flourish. i expect very good outcome fromthis coming together. we have complemented each other in the past. we can complement inthe present and future too. as two major economies in asia, the harmonious partnershipbetween india and china is essential for economic development and political stability of thecontinent. you are the ‘factory of the world’. whereas, we are the ‘back office of the world’. yougive thrust on production of hardware, while india focuses on software and services.

　　similarly, indian component manufacturers have been masters in high-quality precision andthe chinese players have mastered the art of mass production. the component designexpertise of indian engineers and low cost mass production by china can cater to the globalmarkets in a better way. this industrial partnership of china and india can bring about greaterinvestment, employment and satisfaction of our people.

　　friends! let us work together in mutual interest and for progress and prosperity of our greatcountries.

　　i would conclude by saying that now india is ready for business. you must be sensing thewinds of change in india. i only advise to you to come and feel the same.

　　i assure you of my personal attention for your success.

　　thank you, very much.