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Prime Minister Narendra Modi must have been a pleased man on Sunday.
At the Vibrant Gujarat Summit inauguration, speaker after speaker, including United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, United States Secretary of State John Kerry, and a who's who of India Inc and Global Inc expressed confidence in his vision and the road ahead for India.
Calling Modi "visionary", Kerry said the PM had "brought a particular energy to this transformational moment". And, that it was because of Modi's reputation "for what he achieved in the course of his leadership here in Gujarat that the people of India have now given him this very special mandate".
Hailing the Centre's move to implement a national goods and services tax (GST), the World Bank chief said India's economic growth would be 6.4 per cent this year and faster in the next. "India is a bright spot in an otherwise mediocre global economic outlook."
UN head Ban expressed faith in Modi's "forward looking leadership". "I commend his smart cities initiative and vision of use of renewable energy efficiency...Let us work together for a better and sustainable world, where nobody will be left behind."
Jim Yong Kim even said in the next decade, India could guide the world to the end of poverty. "We are the first generation in human history that can eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth. Of all the things to 'Make in India', the most important one is to make, right here in Gujarat, right here in India, the very foundation for a world free of poverty."
On Modi's calls regarding Make in India and Digital India, Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries, said these had energised India and its enterprises. Reliance, he said, would invest Rs 1 lakh crore in the next 12-18 months in Gujarat alone, in contributing to both initiatives.
Suzuki Motor chairman Osamu Suzuki said they were constructing a new factory in the state, to be completed by mid-2017. "Gujarat is definitely superior in terms of infrastructure development and ease of doing business and, hence, the company opted Gujarat as the next location for our plant," he said.
Sam Walsh, chief executive of global mining giant Rio Tinto, said: "There are significant trade opportunities between Australia and India. There are two very large potential projects here in India. One in Odisha, and a diamond project in Madhya Pradesh. More important, the diamond project would add 30,000 jobs in the diamond cutting industry in Gujarat."
