In a strong message to the corporate world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the government is standing by those who are moving ahead with honesty, competing fairly and creating wealth, but dealing strictly with corruption and cronyism.Modi was speaking at The Economic Times Global Business Summit , which was attended by the cream of Indian business and politics as well as top bureaucrats.“To promote fair competition, we are dealing strictly with both corruption and cronyism. Be it banking, FDI (foreign direct investment) policies or allotment of natural resources — cronyism is being removed from every sphere. We have focused on simplification, rationalisation and transparency,” the PM said, underlining that the government is relentlessly replacing old laws with simpler ones.Amid a worsening international scenario, the PM held out an assurance saying, “Due to various reasons and the international situation, the global economy is in a weak and difficult position. Even then, we have taken initiatives and proactive steps to ensure the impact of the same is minimum on the Indian economy.”Modi said India has become a strong organ of the global economic system. He said the policies of his government are clear and that India’s fundamentals are strong. “Recently we have become world’s fifth-largest economy. Six-seven years ago, we were at the 11th spot. In such a short time, we have come to the fifth spot,” he said.The PM referred to the ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme, which is aimed at settling pending direct tax disputes, and said just two days earlier, the government had also decriminalised many provisions of the Companies Act.Today, India is among the prominent countries in which corporate tax is the lowest,” he said.Modi said his government had broken the status quo with its conviction of purpose and roused all sectors out of the “convenience of inaction”. He took a swipe at the Opposition for objecting to moves such as the Citizenship Amendment Act ( CAA ), abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir and the law to ban triple talaq.Quoting the Ramcharitmanas, he said it was easy for the Opposition to preach but it was unable to act. “Their identity is ‘talking the right things’. That is not wrong. But people they hate are those who ‘do the right things’. So when the status quo changes, they see it as disruption,” the PM said.He said those who call themselves the proponents of gender justice objected to his government’s decision to ban triple talaq and the people who speak of rights of migrants object to the CAA, which enshrines those rights.“People who cite the Constitution, they object to removal of the temporary arrangement of Article 370 in J&K and implementing the Constitution in its totality,” the PM said. “People who speak of justice, they raise questions on the intention of the Supreme Court if one decision of SC goes against them.”He said such people have no problem as long as the status quo is preserved.“Such people feel that ‘inaction is the most convenient action’. But for us, nation-building, country’s development and governance is not an issue of convenience but conviction. Conviction to do the right thing, the conviction to break the status quo,” Modi said.Speaking on his government’s policy towards the world, he said India had moved away from the parameter of being equidistant from all while being neutral, to being neutral while being friendly with all. “Earlier the parameter was distance, but now it is friendship. We are now friends with Saudi Arabia and also with Iran. We are friends with the US and also with Russia,” the PM said. “This is the story of India’s foreign policy today and our economic policy.”He also referred to the Covid-19 outbreak, saying it is being considered “a very big challenge for the world economy by financial institutions”. “We have to win over this through our strength of collaborate to create,” he said.“Today, India is creating a model of sustainable growth which is beneficial for the entire world,” the PM said. He said that due to such efforts, the faith of foreign investors is increasing in the Indian economy.“Just a short while ago, you heard Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman say that India gives the maximum return and he wants to double his investment here. In 2019, the country got nearly $48 billion in foreign direct investment. This growth has been over 16%,” the PM said.He said last year, India got $19 billion of private equity and venture capital investment, which was a growth of 53%. “Foreign portfolio investors are also increasing their investment. Last year, this investment was $19 billion. It is clear that investors looking for new options are walking towards India. Our government is in constant touch with all stakeholders and taking constant feedback and taking big decisions on all levels,” he said.Laying out the road map to achieving the target of $5 trillion economy, the PM said his government was working at four levels. “One is collaboration. Second is fair competition. Third is wealth creation, and fourth is deleting archaic laws. We have prepared a road map of investment of over Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure,” he said.He said the path chosen was to give strength to public-private partnership (PPP) through another PPP — “Powerful Progressive Push” — as it has been an experience that in whichever sector the private sector is given full freedom, that sector progresses rapidly. “That is why my government is opening up more and more sectors of the economy for private sector,” the PM said.He said his government has also removed silos in government departments and taken systematic steps at teamwork, citing the “collaborate to create” theme. “We have tried to correct things by going to the ground level,” he said.Modi said that since 2014, the country had been working with cooperation in spirit, collaboration in action and a combination of ideas.He cited the reduction in turnaround time at major ports — from 100 hours in 2014 to 60 hours now — as a major achievement and said efforts were on to reduce it further. He also said his government was committed to getting trains to run on time by moving to a system where passengers would be compensated for delays.“No one could have imagined that if a train gets late in India, a system would be started to refund passengers. But we have made this start,” the PM said. “There are some people here in this audience who travel twice by an airline daily. All airlines do not refund your money if the flight is late, but this start has been made by us in the Tejas trains. We have the satisfaction that we had the confidence to do so.”In a parting shot, the PM said that like the powers at the national level who support the status quo and object to change, such powers are getting united at the global level also and creating a network.Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government had moved from India’s past policy of being equidistant from all nations to being friends with everyone, in his first such comments on the doctrine that dictates the country’s overseas strategy.“This is the crux of our foreign policy and our economic policy today,” the PM said at The Economic Times Global Business Summit. “Mahatma Gandhi used to say he wants India’s progress so that the entire world can gain from the same. In this one line lies India’s idea of globalisation and the mantra of collaboration ahead.”In the earlier era, India had tried to keep itself safe by being far from all but now the nation was trying to walk with everyone by being friends with them.“There was an era where India was neutral but the parameter was being equidistant from all. India today is also neutral but we are friends equally with all,” he said. “We are friends with Saudi Arabia and also with Iran… we are friends with US and also with Russia. We were neutral earlier and we are neutral today as well but that is not due to distance but due to the parameter of friendship.”Modi also referred to the past era when “might was right,” which was followed by a period in which it was thought that aligning with one camp would ensure survival.“Some tried a nonaligned strategy too. Then an era came when relations were made on the basis of utility. But today’s era is of a world which is interconnected, interrelated and interdependent,” the PM said. “Still, the world is not able to come on one stage for a global agenda, removing poverty, fighting terrorism or addressing climate change. The whole world awaits this but this is not happening.”Modi said the 21st century is full of possibilities but what is lacking is the presence of a “common global voice.”The biggest question before the world today is whether we survive by adjusting to the changed circumstances or carve out our own path, Modi said.