PM Modi holds talks with PE, VC investors ahead of Budget to discuss measures to boost investment climate

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a roundtable interaction with representatives of venture capital and private equity funds in a bid to seek suggestions on making India a more attractive investment destination. The Prime Minister sought suggestions towards improving ease of doing business in India, attracting more capital and furthering the reform process in the country.

“He appreciated the practical suggestions received from the representatives and said the government is committed towards working to resolve the issues and challenges highlighted,” an official release said. 

During the meeting, the Prime Minister discussed the efforts undertaken by the government to bring in more reforms, the future potential of initiatives like PM GatiShakti, and steps taken to reduce the unnecessary compliance burden. Plus, he mentioned the innovation happening in India at the grassroot level and the boost to the startup ecosystem.

PM Modi tweeted: “During the interaction, heard about the vision and wonderful work being done by Venture Capital and Private Equity Funds to support entrepreneurial talent in sectors ranging from agriculture, education, technology to urban development, energy, infrastructure and more.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also participated in the meeting, is due to present on February 1 the Budget for the next fiscal year that starts on April 1, 2022.

The venture capital and private equity fund representatives said the Prime Minister’s leadership had been a prime driving force behind the massive boost to the investment climate in the country. Siddarth Pai, founding partner, 3One4 Capital, described Modi as the ‘Startup Prime Minister’. They also talked about the entrepreneurial potential of the country, and how it can be leveraged so that the startups can attain global scale. 

Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, suggested working towards making India the global hub in education by leveraging technology. 

The release further mentioned Shantanu Nalavadi from India Resurgent praised the reforms undertaken by the country in the last 7 years, especially the step to set up the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Blackstone’s Amit Dalmia opined that India is among the best performing geographies for Blackstone funds globally.

Vipul Roongta from HDFC praised the policy initiatives that have been taken by the government, in the housing sector especially in the affordable housing segment. The representatives also discussed the opportunities that are emerging because of India’s exemplary climate commitments including the ones in the sphere of energy transitions. They also gave inputs about areas like fintech and financial management, software as a service (Saas) etc. They also praised the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a 5 trillion economy.

Munish Verma from Softbank, Ankur Gupta from Brookfield, Mukul Arora from Elevation, Sehraj Singh from Prosus, Ranjit Shah from Gaja Capital, Sunil Goyal from Yournest and Padmanabh Sinha from NIIF too attended the meeting with the Prime Minister. Officials of PMO and the finance ministry were also present during the interaction.