America
Modi outlines reforms, governance as priorities
New York, Sep 25
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
capped off a day of economic diplomacy with a dinner for 42 business
leaders of the "$4.5 trillion club", showing off the achievements of his
15 months in office as he made pitches for investments in India.
Assuring
the CEOs the economic reforms were on track and that prompt
decision-making and transparency were his areas of priority, he said,
"Reform in governance is my Number One priority. We are for simplified
procedures, speedy decision-making, transparency and accountability."
The
CEOs at the dinner arranged by Fortune magazine came from top-tier US
companies, and toting up their value external affairs ministry spokesman
Vikas Swarup dubbed it the "$4.5 trillion club".
The top
executives at the dinner table included Indra Nooyi of Pepsico, Ginni
Rometty of IBM, Sanjay Mehrotra of San Disk, Andrew Liveris of Dow
Chemical, Marc Allen of Boeing International, Marillyn Hewson of
Lockheed Martin, Mark Fields of Ford, Ajay Banga of MasterCard, Michael
O'Neill of Citigroup, Gary Cohn of Goldman Sachs, Hamilton James of
Blackstone, Dinesh Palatal of Harman International, and Joe Ripp of
Time Inc.
Modi distributed a one-page summary of his record in
office, which highlighted the reforms undertaken so far for ease of
doing business, bankruptcies and opening more sectors to foreign direct
investment.
It also listed the 40 percent increase in foreign
direct investments to India, while in the rest of the world it has
fallen by 10 percent.
India's Ambassador to the US, Arun Singh,
said that the CEOs commented that what had been done by Modi was
wrongly assessed and presented negatively in the media.
"The general mood was, 'Continue what you are doing, do it faster," Swarup said.
At
a roundtable with top leaders from media and media venture capital,
Modi told them that technology was leading to democratisation of
knowledge and spoke of how the mdia can be partners in development,
Swarup said.
Modi asked them to develop programming in regional languages, suggesting their potential as investment venues.
He also asked them to help in setting up universities or chairs in communication studies.
The
meeting was convened by Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News
Corp. and 21st Century Fox, and high-level executives came from News
Corp, 21st Century Fox, Star TV Sony, Discovery, Time Warner, A&E
and VICE Media. Swarup said that James Murdoch, the CEO of 21st Century
Fox, said that the executives there represented 40 percent of the
global media industry.
Swarup said the executives considered India the biggest market for them. They asked for speedier digitisation and 4G rollout.
In separate sessions, Modi with Banga, Hewson and Aecom chief executive Mike Burke to discuss investments in India.
After his meeting, Banga told reporters, "Every time I meet him he asks, 'What can I do better?'."
Lockheed
Martin is making plane parts at a factory set up with the Tatas in
Hyderabad and Modi pushed for more manufacturing in India.
Aecom is involved in developing Vizag into smart city.
Michael
Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and now the head of the
financial and news media company that bears his name and philanthropist
discussed with Modi health issues like cancer prevention, sustainable
development and smart cities, Swarup said.