PM Narendra Modi addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of the 72nd Independen... Read More

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said structural reforms of four years by his government have transformed the Indian economy from being among world's fragile five to an elephant that has started to run and made it a destination of multi-trillion dollar investment.

Delivering his last Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort before general elections, Modi said his government has the capability to take tough decisions and vowed not to spare corrupt and black money holders.

In a nearly 90 minute-long speech, the Prime Minister, sporting a traditional saffron coloured headgear, listed down the progress in the economy and his government's achievements, especially in programmes aimed at providing housing, sanitation and clean drinking water to the poor, electrification of villages, building of highways, providing clean cooking fuel and resolving of NPAs in the banking sector.

In the past four years of his reign, Modi said his government had improved incomes of farmers and ensured the sector matched growth witnessed in other sectors of the economy.

Prior to 2014, India was likened to policy paralysis and delayed reforms. "India was considered among 'fragile five' (economies of the world) but today the world is seeing it as a destination of multi-trillion dollar investment. Everything has changed," he said.

From being seen as a "risky" economy, India is now the land of reform, perform and transform. "We are poised for record economic growth," he said.

Stating that India is now the sixth biggest economy in the world, he said businesses used to talk about red tape and policy paralysis, now they talk about the 'red carpet' and improvement in ease of doing business ranking.

He cited IMF's recent report which said India's economy is an elephant that's starting to run. "...the sleeping elephant has woken up and has started to run," he said.

The International Monetary Fund 's last week stated that India is on track to hold its position as one of the world's fastest-growing economies as reforms start to pay off.

Modi said reputed international institutions and experts are now saying that India will be the engine of growth for the world for the next three decades.

Listing out achievements of his government, he said better targeting of government benefits has weeded out about 6 crore fake beneficiaries of government subsidy on LPG, pension, helping save Rs 90,000 crore.

He said there is no place for nepotism and strict action is being taken against corruption.

"We will not spare the corrupt and those who have stashed black money. They have ruined the country," he said. "Delhi's streets are now free from power brokers. From (a time when) the voice of power brokers (was heard), the voice of the poor is (now) heard."

Modi, in his fifth Independence Day speech, also mentioned the clamp down on three lakh shell companies that were used to launder ill-gotten money.

Listing measures that have brought the untaxed in the tax net, he said the number of income taxpayers has increased to 6.75 crore from 3.5-4 crore before 2014.

Also, the implementation of one-nation, one-tax scheme of Goods and Services Tax (GST) has led to a rise in the number of indirect taxpayers from 70 lakh to 1.16 crore.

"We have the potential to take tough decisions," he said. "Prior to 2014, global institutions used to say the Indian economy is risky. Today, the same institutions and people are saying that reform momentum is giving strength to fundamentals," the PM said.

He went on to list out structural reforms like Goods and Services Tax (GST), bankruptcy and insolvency law and benami property law that helped transform the economy.

Electrifying all villages, providing 5 crore cleaner cooking gas to poor women, doubling the pace of highway construction, record foodgrain production, record mobile phone manufacturing, and building four-time more new houses in villages were some of the achievements of his government, he said.

If the work continued at the pace that was prevalent in 2013, it would have taken one or two more decades to electrify all villages, 100 years to provide LPG gas connections to all and generations to take optic fibre to villages.

Modi said the government fulfilled the promise to provide 50 per cent more than the cost of production for kharif crops to farmers and is on the way to achieve the target of doubling farm income by 2022.

As many as 13 crore loans have been disbursed under the Mudra Yojana, and four crore loans out of this number, being disbursed to first-time beneficiaries of such loans, he said.

He emphasised on the vision of Housing for All, Power for All, Clean Cooking for All, Water for All, Sanitation for All, Skill for All, Health for All, Insurance for All, and Connectivity for All.

He said that he is impatient, anxious and keen to see India progress, eliminate malnutrition, and to see Indians get a better quality of life.

