PM Modi wants India Inc to jack up investment in agricultural sector

Corporate investment in domestic agro sector merely at 1%

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted India Inc to jack up investment in the domestic agricultural sector for overall socio-economic development.

Speaking at a function in Lucknow, Modi claimed the aggregate corporate investment in the domestic farm sector was an abysmal 1%, much below other economies. He further said the 1% investment was largely in the form of urea or tractor manufacturing.

“Recently, I had convened a meeting of top industrialists in Mumbai to discuss the issue of corporate investment in agriculture. I spent half a day with them and gave a presentation too,” he added.

Modi said he suggested industrialists invest in institutional aspects of agriculture such as value addition, warehousing, cold storage, packaging etc, which would trim post-harvest farm wastage and increase farmers’ income. “I have suggested industrialists and head of business groups form a core team to brainstorm on the agricultural sector investments.”

Modi stressed on the vision to integrate industry with domestic agricultural sector for rural prosperity and laying the foundation of a sustainable socioeconomic growth. “I am still working on the plan and talking to industry. I am confident of the concept.”

Meanwhile, he also laid the foundation of projects worth over Rs 600 billion across sectors. These projects were part of the Rs 4.68 trillion worth of investment proposals netted at the UP Investors Summit 2018 on 21-22 February, which was also inaugurated by Modi.

The bulk of the 26% of projects pertains to heavy industries, followed by food processing (17%), IT (11%), housing (10%), MSME (6%), diary (5%), tourism (5%), animal husbandry (4%) etc.

Modi observed it was no mean achievement of the Yogi Adityanath government to start the work on projects worth Rs 600 billion in 5 months of the Summit.

“It is a remarkable feat to overcome the various hurdles of clearances, litigations, press scrutiny etc to ensure these projects could takeoff in such short duration. This also indicates the leadership qualities of Yogi ji and the concerted effort by all the state government departments and officials,” he added.

The event was also addressed by top industry captains, including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Subhash Chandra, Sanjeev Puri etc. The companies that witnessed the foundation laying for their projects included Reliance Jio Infocom, BSNL, Infosys, TCS, Adani Power, Paytm etc. These projects are expected to generate about 200,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, Modi observed industrialists were an integral part of India’s socio-economic development even as he slammed those who labelled businessmen as dishonest.

“Just like farmers, artisans, bankers, government servants and workers contribute to nation building, industrialists also chip in and it is unfortunate that some seek to insult them with unsavoury references,” the PM said. However, he warned unscrupulous businessmen would either be in jail or forced to flee the country.