Piyush Goyal: India Emerges as World’s Most Trusted Investment Destination

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India has emerged as one of the world’s most trusted investment destinations and is expected to remain the fastest growing major economy for the next two decades. He said recent meetings with investors in Canada and the United States showed strong confidence in India’s growth story.

Goyal said investors, pension funds, insurance firms and global companies view India as a reliable manufacturing and investment hub backed by democracy, strong leadership, technology capabilities and a market of 1.4 billion people. He added that global investors are increasingly looking at India for long term capital deployment.

India has signed nine Free Trade Agreements in the last three and a half years covering 38 developed economies. The Oman FTA came into effect on June 1, while 2 to 3 more major trade agreements are expected within six months. The government aims to operationalize all nine recently concluded trade deals within the next 9 to 10 months.

Highlighting reforms, Goyal said the Jan Vishwas Act 2.0 decriminalized nearly 1,000 offences across central laws, reducing compliance burdens and improving ease of doing business. He also announced the Bhavya Scheme, which will develop 100 industrial parks with an investment of nearly USD 3.5 billion and provide plug and play infrastructure for businesses.

On infrastructure, he said India is investing around USD 130 billion in roads, highways, ports and airports. Port and airport capacity has doubled over the last decade, while renewable energy capacity is targeted to rise from 250 GW to 500 GW over the next five years.

Goyal also highlighted India’s push into semiconductors, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. He said Tata and ASML are setting up India’s first semiconductor capital equipment manufacturing facility, while data centres serving global markets will receive income tax benefits until 2047 as India works toward becoming a USD 30 trillion economy under the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.