World looking to India for investment: Venkaiah Naidu

Naidu said India is the bright spot with its economy growing at 7.4% to 7.6%

The entire world is looking towards India for investment due to the present conducive atmosphere in the country, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday.

India is the bright spot with its economy growing at 7.4% to 7.6%, even as the global economy remained static and China's growth rate stood at 6.9%, he said inaugurating a mobile app for Coir industry at the 4th Edition of India International Coir Fair here.

This success cannot be attributed to BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone but thousands of others who were behind them in changing the policy directions, reducing regulations, bringing in "reform to perform and transform the country", he added.

Listing out various pro-farmer initiatives taken up by the NDA government, Naidu said Modi had set up a 'Pulses Commission' under Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian to carry out a study to boost production of pulses and increased the minimum support price for pulses by Rs 200 last year and again by Rs 450 this year in order to encourage farmers to cultivate them.

For the benefit of farmers, the Centre has asked the state governments to invoke Essential Commodities Act against those who hiked the prices of fertilisers over minimum retail price, he said.

On measures to prevent misuse of urea, the minister said, the government had come out with a neem coated urea that cannot be diverted for industrial use.

Naidu said his ministry had evolved a scheme to incentivise urban local bodies by up to Rs 1,500 per tonne for converting waste into energy.

Naidu, who released various coir products on the occasion, asked the Coir Board to take steps to modernise the industry, so that productivity and production can be increased to meet the demand of both domestic and international markets.

In his address, the Union Minister of State for MSME, Giriraj Singh said the industry will be nowhere if the board and people neglected coconut growers, who are the backbone of the coir industry.

Coir Board Chairman C P Radhakrishnan said the board is in discussions with various ministries including housing and road to make use of coir products in construction and road laying projects across the country.

The export of coir products recorded a high of Rs 1,901 crore last year, which will be doubled in the next three years, he added.