With the government ramping up capital spending and fostering a conducive policy environment in successive Budgets, it is now time for the private sector to invest, innovate and drive the next phase of globally competitive growth for India, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi asserted on Friday, mooting a “reform partnership charter” to formalise collaboration among government, industry, financial institutions and academia.
"India Inc should come forward with fresh investment and innovation. Financial institutions and analysts should help design practical solutions and improve market confidence," he said, addressing the first post-Budget webinar on the theme ‘Technology Reforms and Finance for Viksit Bharat’.
The government, he said, is further simplifying the foreign investment framework to make the system more predictable and investor-friendly, and stressed the need to ensure predictability, deepen liquidity, introduce new instruments to effectively manage risks, and attract sustained foreign capital.
It is time for industry and financial institutions to bring new energy as the country needs their greater participation in the infrastructure sector, more innovation in financing models and stronger collaboration in emerging sectors, he averred.
The PM’s appeal to Indian industry to step up investment and innovation comes in the context of India signing, or working on inking, trade deals, including with the United Kingdom, European Union, the United States, and now, Israel.
Tie-ups on innovation in manufacturing, including with India’s small and medium enterprises is a key component of the India-EU trade deal. The PM said public capital expenditure has risen from Rs 2 trillion 11 years ago to over Rs 12 trillion in the Union Budget 2026-27.
Noting that the Budget is often evaluated on different parameters, Modi said “the national Budget is not a short-term trading document. It is a policy roadmap. Therefore, the effectiveness of the Budget should also be assessed on solid and substantive parameters”.
The evaluation of reforms should be based on its impact on the ground, he argued. “We should extensively use AI, blockchain, data analytics to improve transparency, speed and accountability,” he said.
Modi flagged the need to strengthen the project sanction methodology and appraisal quality, keep lifecycle costing uppermost, and stop wastages and delays by conducting cost-benefit analysis of projects.
The PM also emphasised that bond market reforms are essential enablers of long-term growth at the webinar that was also attended by Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman and senior officials. He asked stakeholders, policymakers, and experts to learn from global best practices to help strengthen the bond market and foreign investment framework.
The government is making efforts to develop more active bond markets, simplifying bond trading processes, and strengthening project sanction methodologies through rigorous cost-benefit analysis and life-cycle costing. “These steps aim to make the system more predictable and investor-friendly while managing risk effectively,” the PM said.
Ministers asked for reforms agenda
Meanwhile, PM Modi has asked Cabinet ministers to prepare a detailed note on the initiatives their respective ministries will undertake in the coming years. The exercise is part of the government's renewed thrust to simplify processes, improve ease of doing business and expand technology-led governance under its 'Reform Express' agenda, official sources said.
The ministers were told to prepare the note themselves so they can present it in the Union Cabinet meeting and brief the cabinet on their respective ministries' activities and reform outlook. The Cabinet Secretariat has circulated a specific form outlining the format in which each ministry will document its future reform initiatives as well as achievements from the last few years, PTI reported.
 "PM Modi moots 'reform partnership charter' with industry, lenders")
