India emerging as preferred destination for investments: Piyush Goyal

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Sunday said that India is emerging as a preferred destination for investments as the Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) has been consistently growing over the past seven years.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Goyal said, “You will appreciate that FDIs in the past 7 years has been consistently growing, year after year it has broken all the records. It shows that India is emerging as a preferred destination for investments.”

The minister said that India has record investments even during the COVID-19 period.

On being asked about the visit of a high-level delegation from UAE to Jammu and Kashmir for business opportunities, he said that Kashmir has become an “attraction for investors” both in India and internationally after the abrogation of Article 370.

“After the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the way Kashmir has become an attraction for investors both in India and internationally was evident when a high-level delegation from UAE has come to Jammu and Kashmir for investments,” Goyal stated.

Jammu and Kashmir administration hosted a Gulf Investment Summit in Srinagar to strengthen ties and boost investment opportunities in the region. Delegates from over thirty-six countries attended the event.

“In fact, one of the MoUs was signed during my earlier visit also when I was there with LG Manoj Sinha in Kashmir. It seems that a whole host of investors had the benefit of visiting Jammu and Kashmir, experiencing the beauty, glory and offerings of the union territory,” the Union Minister stated.

He also asserted that “very rapid and enormous” progress will be there in Jammu and Kashmir in the years to come, given the huge thrust of the Government of India to promote investments in the union territory.

“I have no doubt in my mind that given the huge thrust of GoI to promote investments in J-K, the excellent package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given to promote industrial development here, the enthusiasm that I can see both in India and internationally, particularly in UAE….very rapid and enormous progress in J-K will be there in the years to come,” Goyal added.

The 36-member delegation included Indian businessmen based in the UAE and a representative of the Rulers Office in Abu Dhabi.

During the Gulf Investment Summit in Srinagar, investment proposals of Rs 27,000 crores have been cleared by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. (ANI)