NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Monday asked industry captains to scale up, take risks and compete with the best in industry, while assuring them that the government will fully back Indian companies. During a closed-door pre-Budget consultation with top executives from the corporate sector, Modi suggested that five Indian companies should be part of the top 20 global companies in every sector.
“He said that the corporate sector should invest more in areas like agriculture and food processing, and talked about the shifting focus on natural farming. He underlined the policy consistency of the government, and said the government is firmly committed to take initiatives which will give impetus to economic progress of the country. He also spoke about focus of the government towards reducing compliance burden, and sought suggestions on areas where undue compliances need to be removed,” an official statement said.

It also said that Modi exhorted Indian industry to take full advantage of government schemes such as performance-linked incentives. “His message was very clear that while the government can support, you are the ones who have to go there, achieve, and perform,” said Preetha Reddy, vicechairperson at Apollo Hospitals Group. Mallika Srinivasan, who leads TAFE, said the whole interation with the PM was about how do we take India forward. Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said the industry is fully committed to contributing to his grand vision by making India a manufacturing hub.
Kotak Mahindra Bank vice-chairman Uday Kotak said, “Time has come for Indian business, Indian industry, Indian banking and financial sector to think about scale, without any fear. Indian banking and finance is there to support industry across SIDI — that is sustainability, inclusion, digital and infrastructure. We will grow, we will make India happen.”
After his meeting with private equity and venture capital sector representatives last week, this was the second set of pre-Budget discussions undertaken by the PM, with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also meeting stakeholders from several sectors.
Modi’s Monday dialogue was with CEOs of companies from banking, infrastructure, automobiles, telecom, consumer goods, textile, renewables, hospitality, technology healthcare, space and electronics sectors, government sources said. “Since the launch of Startup India in 2016, there are now 79 unicorns and this number will rise rapidly.
PM said how India should be among the top five in entrepreneurship and startups, and every sector,” said Oyo founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal.