- I am
happy to address the India-Greece Business Forum. First of
all, I would like to thank Entreprise Greece for bringing us together this
morning. I am happy that 30 companies from India, led by the
Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry &
Agriculture and the Trade Promotion Council of India are participating in
this business engagement.
- India
and Greece are two ancient civilizations. Our economic, trade and cultural
engagement go back over 2500 years. There was flourishing trade network
between Greece and India as early as the 3rd century BC. With
such rich history of engagement to inspire and build on, one cannot,
perhaps, be more optimistic of the future of India-Greece trade and
investment relations.
- Yesterday,
I had meaningful discussions with President Pavlopoulus on the way forward
for India-Greece relations. Both of us were convinced that there is
immense potential to take India-Greece economic ties to a higher level.
Similar sentiments were echoed in my interaction with Prime Minister
Tsipras There are ample opportunities for our businesses to grow in the
areas of trade, technology and investment.
- Our
bilateral trade at US Dollars 530 million is way below what had been
achieved in the past, and what possibly could be a reasonable target for
the future. As per market survey, with some efforts this can easily be
made to cross US Dollars 1 billion in the next few years. My Government is
keen to take lead in this effort. We have accepted the Greek Government’s
invitation to be the “Honoured Country” at the ThessalonikiInternational
Fair, Greece’s flagship business event, to be held in September
2019. I hope this will give a major boost to our bilateral
trade. And while the two Governments are taking lead, we would expect
Chambers of Commerce, Export Promotion Councils and Industry Groups to
participate in the Thessaloniki fair in large numbers and make our
partcipation a grand success.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
- There
are clear complementarities between the Indian and Greek economies.
Both have their strong points. India happens to be the fastest growing
major economy in the world with a growth rate of 7.7%. We have
undertaken an ambitous plan to build next-generation infrastructure
including 100 Smart Cities, airports, high-speed trains, highways and
cyber connectivity. Last year, we built nearly 10,000 kilometers of
national highways – that is 27 kilometers daily, almost double the speed
few years ago. Our Sagarmala project proposes to develop a
string of new ports including 5 major ports along our vast
coastline. It has initiated a robust programme for portled
industrialisation and connectivity. We have also designated 111
rivers as National Waterways. In addition, we have opened coastal
shipping to international players. These measures will change the
way we harness our maritime and inland river transport corridors in India.
- To
boost our manufacturing sector and Make In India programme, we have
undertaken pathbreaking reforms. The most transformative of them has been
the introduction of Goods and Services Tax which makes India into a single
unified tax market for the first time in its modern history.
We have repealed over 1400 outdated laws. Both the
Central and State Governments have undertaken over 10,000 measures to make
it easier for business to establish and grow in India. Due to these
reforms, we have jumped 42 places in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business
Index in the last four years. As a result, Foreign Direct Investment flows
into India have risen from US dollars 36 billion in 2013-14 to US dollars
60 billion in 2016-17. All in all, India is set to be a 5 trillion
dollar economy by 2025 with the 3rdlargest consumer
market in the world. This sort of growth and demand opens up immense
business opportunities.
- The
Greek economy has global reputation in several fields including
shipping, tourism and agriculture. I would encourage greek shipping,
agriculture, food processing, tourism, infrastructure, technology, defence
and Start-up companies to look at investment and technology tie-up
openings in India. There are lucrative opportunities for the Greek
Shipping Industry in the Indian growth story. Greece is also a frontrunner
in agriculture and food processing sectors. We have a target to double
farm incomes by 2022 in India. This represents major prospects for
Greek agro-based companies. There are opportunities for us to collaborate
in defence manufacturing, pharma, tourism, real-estate, entertainment,
infrastructure and technology sectors as well. Both our countries have a
strong renewable energy programme, especially in the solar energy sector.
India’s target is to produce 175 Gigawatt of renewable power by
2022. We should explore how we can leverage each other’s strength in
the field. On the Start-up side, India has the third largest network in
the world. I undertand that Greece also has a niche start-up sector in
place. We should explore opportunities in this sector as well.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
- Indian
companies have a global standing in the fields of IT,
pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, automobiles, energy, technology,
entertainment and hospitality sectors. We have our business
representatives from these sectors present here. There are still others
here from agriculture, electronics, real-estate, footwear, mining and
skill development sectors. I am hopeful they would
all have an engaging day ahead with their greek counterparts. On
skills side, I must highlight that we have an ambitious Skill India
programme to train 150 million youth by 2022. Greece with its proven
capacity in the tourism sector could be a potential partner for developing
skills for the hospitality sector in India.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
- Opportunities
before us are manifold. It is for us to see how we convert
them into real business prospects. I wish the participants in this
business engagement a fruitful day of deliberations and discussions.
Thank you.
Courtesy: pib.nic.in
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