Panaji |Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday was optimistic on the India growth story saying, “The worst is over and best is yet to come.” The minister was addressing the Global Venture Capital Summit in Goa, attended by over 100 investors from across the globe keen on start-ups.
“There is no market, which is exciting as India…This is a new phase in India’s growth story,” Prabhu said he is inviting investors to participate in this. The minister said phenomenal growth will take place in every sector. Noting the drive of infrastructure creation in the country under the PM Narendra Modi-led government, Prabhu said this is a dire need for such a large country.
“The government has to invest more than 10 per cent on infrastructure year after year. That is because we failed to do it in the past,” he said indirectly blaming the former Congress-led governments at the Centre. Prabhu, who was also the Railway Minister, said on that front,the entire investment was running into hundreds of billions of dollars. “We created, for the first time, a five-year plan of USD 144 billion investments. There was a phenomenal change in the infrastructure after that,” he claimed.
Prabhu, who also holds the portfolio of Civil Aviation Minister said, “In the aviation sector, we have created 100 airports and we will add 100 more in the next ten years time with the investment of USD 65 billion. The story is similar in roads,” he pointed out. Prabhu said that when he held the responsibility as Power Minister, the country was facing a deficit and questions were asked on how India will become powerful without power. “We made one law that brought in USD 250 billion in investments in a matter of a decade. Today, India from being power deficient, is a power surplus country,” he boasted.
Making a case to back entrepreneurship he pointed out while in other markets there is a 2-3 per cent growth for start-ups, India clocks double digit growth, and the possibilities are “unimaginable”. The minister especially pointed to opportunities in agricultural start-ups because almost all the land used for agriculture is privately owned. There are small holdings. Therefore we have opportunity to increase the farm yield, he suggested.
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