Modi says India Inc exposure to agro sector just 1%, calls for huge jack up

PM says current level of investment is much lower than other economies and largely confined to tractor manufacturing and urea

Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Monday 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 one per cent, much lower than other economies, and that even this was largely in 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 urged industrialists to invest in institutional aspects of agriculture such as value addition, warehousing, cold storage and packaging, which would trim post-harvest farm wastage and increase farmers’ income. “I have suggested that industrialists and heads of business groups form a core team to brainstorm on agricultural sector investments.”

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

Meanwhile, he also laid the foundation of projects worth over Rs 600 billion across sectors. These 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 projects are in heavy industries (26 per cent), followed by food processing (17 per cent), Information Technology (11 per cent), housing (10 per cent), MSME (6 per cent), diary (5 per cent), tourism (5 per cent), and animal husbandry (4 per cent).

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

“It is a remarkable feat to overcome the various hurdles of clearances, litigations, press scrutiny etc to ensue 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, such as Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Subhash Chandra and Sanjeev Puri. The companies that witnessed the foundation laying for their projects included Reliance Jio Infocom, BSNL, Infosys, TCS, Adani Power and Paytm. These projects are expected to generate about 200,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, Modi asserted that 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 jailed or forced to flee the country.