India most-trusted; world should consider trust-shoring for doing biz: Min

Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made India the most-trusted country for the world, senior Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said global businesses should consider "trust-shoring" to reap benefits of the resilience and steady high growth of the Indian economy.

In an extensive interview to PTI here at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024, Vaishnaw said India will deliver 6-8 per cent economic growth for at least 10 years, given the strong foundation laid by Prime Minister Modi and there will be opportunities for everyone across all sectors.

"In my meetings with business leaders, investment bankers, tech CEOs and other leaders, one common factor that has come out very clearly is the resilience of the Indian economy and people want to know more about it.

"People want to know in deep about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies. I had discussions with several top investment bankers and global CEOs on how PM Modi has given a stability and resilience to the Indian economy and how it has been given a stead growth path," the minister said.

He said the four pillars of the Indian economy under the watch of PM Modi -- investment in infrastructure, focus on manufacturing, inclusive growth, and simplification -- have generated a good impact.

"All global leaders agree that India will deliver 6-8 per cent economic growth for at least 10 years because PM Modi has laid such a strong foundation," he added.

Vaishnaw, Minister for Railway, Communications, and Electronics and Information Technology, said he has already met more than 40 top leaders here so far and all of them gave a clear and consistent reply that the policies of PM Modi are right and to-the-point and they are clearly benefiting from those.

The minister said all CEOs in the manufacturing sector and investment banking heads that he has met here, they all are clear that the consistent growth rate being shown by India and the systematic way the Indian economy is transforming, there will be opportunities for everyone.

"Most importantly, Modi has established India as a trusted country before the entire world and this trust is a very important factor. People were talking about friend-shoring and near-shoring, I say 'trust-shoring' is more important now than friend-shoring, near-shoring and all other things in the supply chain and this is very clearly visible now," Vaishnaw said.

After offshoring and onshoring, near-shoring and friend-shoring have been recent buzzwords in global business, meaning shifting business to or doing business with neighbouring and friendly countries, respectively.

Trust-shoring would mean doing business with or in a country that you trust, Vaishnaw said.

The minister said all CEOs and investors he has met here are unanimous that they want to increase their manufacturing footprint in India.

"Second, people are very impressed that India is moving very fast on renewable energy. Modi has emphasised on this from the very beginning and the results are visible.

"The energy to be used in manufacturing, if that is renewable, the manufacturing process becomes very competitive. If a product goes to the market at Rs 100 with conventional energy, it will fetch a price of Rs 110 in the market if it goes with renewable energy. This everyone knows and therefore they appreciate PM Modi's policy a lot," he added.