'Will provide red carpet to cut red tape': PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with investment fund managers on Thursday, assured to facilitate their concerns, adding that bureaucracy shall no longer be an issue in India.

"I want to give assurance on what I said in Parliament. There shall be no surprises. India has many opportunities in investment. For example, you can build malls near railway stations. Send a team to India, and we will have a group to facilitate you. We will provide a red carpet to cut the red tape," the Prime Minister said at the hour-long meet.

The Prime Minister further asked the 10 investment fund managers present on what changes can be made to encourage them to invest in India, to which all in unison called for long term predictability and stability.

"The mood has changed and there is an excitement about India. The demand to do business with India has gone up exponentially. Canadians have not been this excited about the visit of an Indian prime minister as they have been on this occasion," they said.

"We want long term predictability and long term stability. When big players invest, they don't look for short term gains. We have interest in many sectors, including infrastructure, real estate and tourism. However, we don't want changes in tax policies, especially retrospective taxation. Changes in taxation policy result in planning issues," they added.

Meanwhile, one investor said that he had USD one billion invested in India and was now looking at more options in India for further investment.

The investors suggested that authorisation could be eased in certain areas, where duplicatory permissions were needed.

Among the participants at the meeting were the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), Sun Life Financial, BMO financial, Manulife Financial, Scotiabank, Bank of British Columbia and the TD Bank, which has USD one trillion as its corpus.

Prime Minister Modi's trip to Canada is the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 42 years.

The Minister Modi arrived here after concluding a successful visit to France and Germany.

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